Jordan Bardella launches “fake news” on the financing of Valérie Hayer | EUROtoday
Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
“QWho is chatting with me this night, Mrs. Hayer? » asks Jordan Bardella Thursday night, after an hour of debate organized on BFMTV. The head of the RN record is attempting, right now, to free itself from the hyperlinks between the RN and Vladimir Putin's Russia. His response: a counterattack on the financing of Valérie Hayer's marketing campaign. According to Jordan Bardella, his Macronist opponent could be financed by the European celebration Alde (Alliance of European Liberals and Democrats), itself financed by giant multinationals comparable to Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook (Meta).
Valérie Hayer replies that she shouldn’t be a member of Alde. What is true. She is a member of the Renew Europe group. It was not potential to merge Alde and Renew Europe, as neither construction wished to provide in to the opposite.
READ ALSO Europeans 2024: when Bardella makes brief work of HayerBut Jordan Bardella's false data goes deeper: European events don’t even have the best to finance nationwide or referendum campaigns. European political events can not even finance the coaching of nationwide elected officers. Which, furthermore, strongly limits the involvement of European events within the European marketing campaign… The ALDE doesn’t even have the best to appoint candidates for the European elections. This stays the competence of the Member States, which set the financing guidelines.
Political events that can’t finance campaigns
The regulatory framework for European events could be very strict. Ten European events have fulfilled the situations to entry European funds. The situations are as follows: register with the European authority (APPF), have authorized persona, have its headquarters in a Member State, respect the basic European ideas (outlined in Article 2 of the EU Treaty ), take part in European elections and be represented (through its members) in 1 / 4 of the Member States. Parties should not pursue a revenue motive or be members of one other European political celebration.
READ ALSO The European Commission on the bedside of our sick democraciesTheir financing primarily consists of European subsidies. A ceiling has been established: EU subsidies can not exceed 90% of their finances. For the remaining 10%, they need to name on contributions or donations (as much as 18,000 euros). Since December 2023, events should notify the Authority for European Political Parties (and foundations) of all donations, whereas beforehand solely donations above 12,000 euros needed to be notified. Publication of donations is common on the APPF web site. Member States wouldn’t have the best to assist them.
Corporate funding excluded from the Renew Europe marketing campaign
The central events in Europe are fractured into three entities, the Alde celebration (which incorporates the UDI in France), the European Democrats (EDP, together with the MoDem) and Renaissance and affiliated events. In January 2024, they signed a memorandum with a view to this European marketing campaign. In this, the stakeholders dedicated to organizing joint marketing campaign occasions, co-financed by every of the constituents. But it’s explicitly supplied in level 3 of this memorandum that “all campaign activities will be financed with their own resources without financing from companies”. This memorandum was signed by the co-presidents of Alde, Timmy Dooley and Ilhan Kyuchyuk, by MEP Sandro Gozi, secretary normal of the EDP, and by Stéphane Séjourné for the Renaissance celebration.
There was, in reality, sturdy friction between Stéphane Séjourné, the previous president of Renew, and the leaders of Alde after they tried to create a single celebration. The query of Alde's financing posed an issue.
Indeed, for the 12 months 2018 alone, Alde had obtained 122,000 euros from eight giant teams and lobbies they usually additionally paid an entry charge to talk on the celebration's annual congress or throughout conferences. Among the sponsors, Google (15,000 euros), the Bayer group (18,000 euros), Deloitte, and the agri-food foyer Fooddrink… Alde continues to obtain donations from corporations in 2022: AT & T (18,000 euros) , Microsoft (18,000 euros), Amazon (18,000 euros), Janssen (18,000 euros)…
Valérie Hayer shouldn’t be a member of Alde
Much data on European political events could be present in a research carried out in May 2023 by the Jacques Delors Institute. In truth, European events have had nice problem discovering contributors and donations from people or corporations.
So a lot in order that the utmost ceiling for European subsidies has been raised twice. In 2008, it was 75% of whole assets. In 2019, it was elevated to 85%. Now it’s 90%… Alde is the one celebration that has constructed up a base of particular person members. There have been 1,340 particular person members in 2020. But Valérie Hayer shouldn’t be certainly one of them.
Jordan Bardella believed he may play this card by adorning himself with advantage. “I don’t get funding from big American companies,” he mentioned. I perceive higher why you might be so harsh with French corporations on whom you impose ever extra advanced requirements: little question to profit the individuals who finance your marketing campaign. » Problem: that is false.
A trial awaits Marine Le Pen over the usage of European funds
Valérie Hayer may have replied that in relation to financing, the RN has an appointment with justice. Marine Le Pen and the management of her celebration (26 different defendants) from the 2010s can be judged from September 30 by the Paris legal courtroom. They are suspected of getting arrange between 2004 and 2016 a system of remuneration by the European Union for the parliamentary assistants of MEPs who really labored for the celebration. Marine Le Pen has already agreed to pay practically 330,000 euros to the European Parliament for the undue remuneration of two parliamentary assistants.
An analogous affair hit the MoDem, accomplice of the presidential majority. The trial of the MoDem parliamentary assistants befell in November 2023.
On February 5, the Paris legal courtroom sentenced 5 former MoDem MEPs to sentences starting from 10 to 18 months in jail, fines of 10,000 to 50,000 euros and two years of suspended ineligibility. François Bayrou was launched “for the benefit of the doubt”, as have been two different defendants. The Paris prosecutor's workplace appealed the acquittal selections.
https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/europeennes-jordan-bardella-lance-une-fake-news-sur-le-financement-de-valerie-hayer-03-05-2024-2559351_20.php