To wipe the slate clean before the 2024 European campaign. This is the objective of party leader Jordan Bardella who wants to liquidate the debt before the end of the year, according to information from RTL.
The objective for the party: to anticipate all accusations of Russian interference in the functioning of the party while the National Rally is still indebted with 6 million euros from a loan contracted in 2014 with the Czech-Russian bank First Czech Russian Bank (FCRB).
According to an elected RN deputy for RTL, this Russian loan is the “worst ball” of the party for almost ten years. With the start of the war in Ukraine, he even became a “cumbersome, smelly corpse”, according to another elected official.
The one who will probably be a future head of the list of the European elections is betting on the payment of 10.2 million euros from the public subsidy calculated on the result of the legislative elections, next fall.
Marine Le Pen had already been singled out during the debate between the presidential rounds by Emmanuel Macron, who accused her of “depending on Russian power” and that Russia was her “banker”. In December 2022, the report of a parliamentary commission of inquiry concluded that the National Rally was a “transmission belt” of Russian power.
The challenge remains, however, to find a French bank that will agree to finance the next European campaign of the National Rally. The party will certainly be able to turn to the Hungarian bank MKB which had already financed its 2022 presidential campaign.
In total, according to the treasurer of the RN, Kevin Pfeiffer, the party accumulates a debt of 26.5 million euros. This debt includes a “patriotic loan” contracted from sympathizers of the RN. A burden that Jordan Bardella would like to get rid of before the presidential election of 2027.