Jean-Marie Le Pen

The relief is enormous not only in France, but also in Europe, as well as on the other side of the Atlantic, at a geopolitically critical juncture.

Emmanuel Macron prevailed over the far-right Marine Le Pen - the first President in France to secure a second term in the last 20 years.

Paris prosecutors are studying a report by the European Union's fraud agency accusing French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and other members of her nationalist party of misusing public funds while serving in the European Parliament.

When does a politician's past come under the statute of limitations? When are their own sins expunged and when is citizens' forgetfulness legitimate, even appropriate?

Marine Le Pen should step down as leader of France's far-right National Front (FN) after disappointing results in the presidential and parliamentary elections, her father who founded the anti-establishment party said on June 20.

Despite Marine Le Pen's drubbing in the French presidential election, her far-right National Front party expanded its footprint in the political landscape -- and confirmed its move into the mainstream. Her anti-immigrant, anti-Europe stance won a record 34 percent of ballots cast on May 7, which translates into the support of nearly 10.6 million voters.

"In 1984, Jean-Marie Le Pen said something that heralded what is happening today. He spoke of the 'Le Pen-ization' of conscience," French-Algerian writer Karim Amellal told Skai TV's "Istories" program on Tuesday while describing precisely how things came to be.

Here's how the French presidential election is going to work. This Sunday's vote will pick the leading two candidates, who will then have another two weeks to campaign for the run-off vote. But the leading four candidates are now bunched together so closely in the polls that any two of them could make it through to the second round. Including a couple of quite worrisome people.

France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen launched her presidential campaign on Feb. 4, with anti-EU and "freedom" for France messages, hoping her anti-establishment message will carry her to power later this year.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder and former head of France's far-right National Front party, has been convicted of denying crimes against humanity for repeating that the Nazi gas chambers are a "detail" of World War II history.

A Paris court convicted then sentenced Le Pen on Wednesday to a 30,000 euros ($34,000) fine plus paying damages to three associations, plaintiffs in the case.

Pierrette – 1st Generation