France: Le Pen and Megret: the last act?
01 November 1998
In December the Front National (FN) was brought to the brink of self-destruction by the culmination of the rivalry between Jean-Marie Le Pen and the now former delegate general, Bruno Megret. The events of the meeting of the national council and a subsequent radio broadcast by Le Pen threw the party's factionalism into sharp relief. A series of expulsions of pro-Megret party members, the sacking of Megret from his post as deputy leader and the eventual suspension of the membership of Megret and four of his closest allies has indelibly drawn the battle lines for the conflict to come.
Le Pen effectively lost control of the meeting of the National Council on December 5th, when Natalie Debaille, a pro-Megret official who had been banned from the meeting by Le Pen nevertheless found her way in, to cheers and applause from many other delegates. The meeting was suspended whilst the political bureau convened, but this appeared to resolve nothing. When Le Pen came back into the meeting, he began hurling homophobic abuse at some of the delegates. During a radio broadcast the following day, he set out a paranoid conspiracy theory with regard to the events of the meeting. He said he had anticipated trouble from a small but noisy faction who were opposed to his choice of Jean-Claude Martinez over Megret as coordinator of the European election campaign. He also, bizarrely, referred to a minority faction of "extremists, racists I would go so far as to say", on whose support Megret was drawing, this resulting in the further demonisation of the party. This, ironically, is the first time that Le Pen has conceded the existence of racism and extremism within his party.
On the pro-Megret side, Pierre Vial, leader of a "paganist" faction within the party, likened Le Pen to the oblivious Louis XIV during the storming of the Bastille, speaking of "a personality cult in a state of atrophy". He also predicted that "Saturday was only the beginning of a process of questioning the way in which the FN is made to function". He was later expelled form the party.
The sacking and eventual suspension of Megret was prompted by the latter's calls on December 9th for an extraordinary party congress. His demand was based on article 24 of the party's statutes, which allows for an exceptional congress with the backing of 20% of the party members. Megret claimed that any expulsions or suspensions, including his own, will have no force until such a congress had been convened and that this was a "logical" initiative aimed at resolving internal differences, not the "putsch", to which Le Pen had alluded to in various interviews. It is also an initiative which has the backing of Le Pen's eldest daughter, Marie-Caroline. Le Pen, of course, did not see things this way.In a press statement on 11 December, he denied taking action against Megret because of the latter's call for a congress. Megret, Le Gallou, Olivier, (Serge) Martinez and Timmermans had been suspended "for disobedience and public calls for disobedience whilst they were in positions of responsibility within the movement".
These events have perhaps two possible outcomes; that Le Pen may be ousted as the leader of western Europe's most successful fascist party by a party largely united behind Megret, or that the party will dissolve into several factions and in so doing, clear the way for the "traditional" right to begin its electoral re-establishment. Whatever the outcome it is only necessary to remember that Le Pen and Megret in fact share exactly the same beliefs and that it is those beliefs which must continue to be opposed, no matter what the eventual fate of the FN might be.
Times 7.12.98, 10.12.98, 12.12.98 Guardian 7.12.98, 10.12.98 Independent 9.12.98 Liberation 10.12.98, Conference de presse de Jean-Marie Le Pen du 11 decembre 1998, Le Monde 13-14.12.98.