I’ll tell you the strange story of the friendship between Le Pen and Pannella

David Carretta on Mattinale Europeo told the strange story of the friendship between Jean-Marie Le Pen, the patriarch of the far right, and Marco Pannella, the European libertarian and federalist

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the patriarch of the far right in France and Europe, has died at the age of 96. “His role in the political life of our country for almost seventy years (…) is now subject to the judgment of history,” the Elysée said in a press release. Emmanuel Macron expressed "his condolences to his family and loved ones". History will not be merciful, just as the contemporary world is not.

Father of Marine Le Pen, former European parliamentarian, candidate several times for the presidency of the Republic, until reaching the second round against Jaques-Chirac in 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen was convicted of Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism, incitement to hatred, racial discrimination and violence, and homophobia. He was also accused of using torture in the 1950s during the Algerian War. “I have nothing to hide. We tortured because it was necessary to do so,” he told the newspaper Combat on November 9, 1962. The Belgian newspaper Le Soir called him the “monster.” For those who support liberal democracy, it was. He's gone. His political legacy remains and is stronger than ever in France and Europe.

Telling the human aspects of a "monster" is always risky. The danger is to trivialize or even glorify a figure responsible for the degeneration of politics and the barbarization of civic discourse. Il Mattinale Europeo is ready to take the risk to tell a European story, the one that marked the relations between Jean-Marie Le Pen, forerunner of the far right, and his Italian political opposite, the leader of the Radical Party, Marco Pannella, European libertarian and federalist, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 86. The two knew each other. They couldn't be further apart politically. They were fierce opponents of each other. Yet they were friends. As one might have been in another era. Not anymore today.

Their paths crossed in Europe. At the end of their political careers in the European Parliament, where they even sat in the same parliamentary group for a few months. The origin of their relationship is much more distant. It dates back to the 1950s, to the post-war period, to the international conferences of university associations. Jean-Marie Le Pen kept a photo from those times, him with blond curls, sitting at a table in front of Marco Pannella, with an intense look.

Jean-Marie Le Pen was a nationalist opposed to the European Economic Community and the various developments that followed it. Marco Pannella was an internationalist and a European federalist. Jean-Marie Le Pen denied the Holocaust. Marco Pannella wanted to bring Israel into the European Union. Jean-Marie Le Pen was for the death penalty. Marco Pannella campaigned for a moratorium on capital executions. Jean-Marie Le Pen was anti-abortion and the most traditional family possible. Marco Pannella led the battles for the introduction of divorce and abortion. Even on the Algerian war the two were on opposite sides. But their personal relationship also passes through there. Marco Pannella has told a small circle of friends and collaborators several times that he was saved by Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Between 1960 and 1963 Marco Pannella was a collaborator of the Italian newspaper Il Giorno in Paris. His articles against French colonialism and complaints about torture irritated the French authorities. Marco Pannella had also participated in some anti-Oas actions. In those days Jean-Marie Le Pen learned that the militias of the Organization de l'armée secrète had targeted his Italian friend. It was at that moment that, according to Marco Pannella's story, the future leader of the National Front saved the future leader of the Radical Party. Not only did Jean-Marie Le Pen warn Marco Pannella that the OAS was hunting him, but he also hid him at his mother's house for a few days. According to Jean-Marie Le Pen's version, which we collected a few years ago, it actually took a few hours. Marco Pannella then returned to Italy in 1963 where he took over the secretariat of the Radical Party, of which he would become the charismatic leader until his death.

The European relationship between Jean-Marie Le Pen and Marco Pannella resumes in the European Parliament. The Italian became a member at the first election by universal suffrage in 1979 and until 1996, then again from 1999 to 2009. The Frenchman was elected for the first time in 1984 and will continue to sit on the benches of Brussels and Strasbourg almost continuously until to 2019. Many deputies were surprised when they saw the two political opposites embrace each other warmly, greeting each other to the thunderous sound of “Marco!”, “Jean-Marie!”. Almost the entire European Parliament was shocked when Marco Pannella and Jean-Marie Le Pen formed a parliamentary group in 1999. It was called the “Technical Group of Independent Deputies” (TDI). Marco Pannella called it "the Group of bastards". “Jean-Marie, on va faire le Groupe des salopards!”, we heard him say in person.

The French Prime Minister, François Bayrou, remembered Jean-Marie Le Pen by explaining that "controversy" was "his favorite weapon". In terms of provocations and controversies, Marco Pannella surpassed him at least in terms of originality. Among other things, his Radical Party allowed the election of the porn star Ilona Staller, aka Cicciolina, into the Italian Parliament. Even "the Group of bastards" in the European Parliament was conceived by Marco Pannella as a middle ground between controversy, provocation and political initiative. In 1999 his party, renamed “Lista Bonino-Pannella”, had just obtained a historic result in the European elections. The other leader of the Italian radicals, Emma Bonino, after five years as European commissioner, had led the list, obtaining 8.5 percent and 7 elected to the European Parliament. Soon after, the Alliance of European Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) offered her the presidency of the group (now called Renew). Marco Pannella, who has never liked positions of power and competitors, refused, forcing Bonino to form the group with Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Officially, the objective of the “Technical Group of Independent Deputies” was to defend the rights and prerogatives of non-attached deputies. In the European Parliament the latter enjoy a lower status than those who are part of the political groups: less speaking time, inability to present proposals for resolutions, a reduced number of officials and financial resources. Marco Pannella's operation cost radicals in the EU enormous political capital and also caused an internal split in the party in Italy, where some members contested collaboration with an avowed anti-Semite and with the far right. In fact, beyond the Italian radicals, the other components were all far-right parties.

Emma Bonino tried to oppose the creation of the "Technical Group of Independent Deputies". For the former European commissioner, Jean-Marie Le Pen was an infrequent person. But, despite protesting, he conformed to the decisions of the charismatic leader of the radicals. Worse: Marco Pannella's initiative failed.

On the initiative of the then President of the European Parliament, the German Martin Schulz, the "Technical Group of Independent Members" was dissolved because it was contrary to the rules. The first article of the statute of the “Group of Bastards” declared that there were no political affinities among its members. Friends yes, provocateurs too. But Marco Pannella and Jean-Marie Le Pen were still fierce political adversaries in Europe and about Europe.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/amicizia-pannella-le-pen/ on Sat, 11 Jan 2025 05:14:47 +0000.