National Rally’s Far-Right Leaders Face Backlash for Racist Comments: How to Draw a Line between Inadmissible and Gross Mistakes.

Marine Le-Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, has announced that she will sanction members and candidates who make “inadmissible comments,” but has emphasized the importance of distinguishing them from those who have simply made “gross mistakes.” Several French far-right candidates have been the subject of controversy for racist and xenophobic statements. Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, has expelled several candidates and withdrawn his own candidacy for the second round of legislative elections due to their inappropriate comments.

In an interview with BMFTV, Le Pen referred to Paule Veyre de Soras’ comments that there are Jews, Muslims, and Spaniards in the National Rally. She acknowledged that Veyre de Soras’ approach was clumsy but stressed that it did not necessarily prove racism. Le Pen also blamed certain media outlets for bringing to light compromising statements by some National Rally candidates.

Bardella had already acknowledged on Wednesday that there may be “black sheep” among the candidates for the National Group after a photograph of a candidate wearing a Luftwaffe cap came to light on social media. He withdrew his candidacy for people he had no knowledge of and appointed 577 candidates in less than 48 hours. However, he admitted that in 99.9% of cases there was no problem.

Le Pen’s party has faced several controversies in recent weeks after statements or compromising situations involving some of its candidates linked to xenophobic or racist attitudes came to light.