From Demonizing Muslims to Funding Extremists: What Is UAE's Link to Le Pen's Party?

A new scandal has emerged involving the UAE, as the French judiciary uncovered suspicious funding from external sources to Marine Le Pen's far-right, anti-Islam party.

The scandal, currently under investigation by the French Attorney General, pertains to the 2022 presidential elections, with uncertainty about its connection to the recent legislative elections in July 2024.

This marks the second such scandal involving the UAE in Europe, following another related to Abu Dhabi's espionage on Europeans, particularly Muslims, under the guise of pursuing the Muslim Brotherhood.

In the details of the new scandal, French television BFMTV, citing judicial sources, reported that the Paris Prosecutor's Office has opened a judicial investigation into suspicions of illegal funding for Marine Le Pen's far-right campaign during the 2022 presidential elections.

On July 9, 2024, it was confirmed that this investigation was based on a decision following a judicial memorandum issued in April 2024 by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP).

BFMTV reported that the National Commission confirmed it had uncovered facts that might constitute criminal offenses and forwarded them to the Paris Prosecutor's Office.

During elections, candidates are prohibited from exceeding the spending limit set by law. The CNCCFP examines each candidate's campaign accounts through supporting invoices to detect any violations.

On this basis, the Commission issued a report to the Paris Prosecutor's Office under Article 40, concerning Marine Le Pen's campaign accounts for the 2022 presidential election.

Following this revelation, the Paris Prosecutor's Office announced on July 9, 2024, that it had indeed opened an investigation into allegations of illegal funding, embezzlement, forgery, and fraud during Marine Le Pen's 2022 presidential campaign, which she lost to President Emmanuel Macron.

This raised questions about the role and purpose of UAE funding for the far-right. Did it play a part in the recent legislative elections as well? Was it the reason for the temporary surge of the far-right party in the first round of elections before their defeat in the second round?

The Funding Story

On October 21, 2016, the French investigative site Mediapart indicated that the National Rally party sought funding from the UAE to support its 2017 election campaigns.

Politically, the site attributed this to the joint battle led by the UAE and Le Pen's party against Islamic terrorism.

On October 4, 2019, Mediapart reaffirmed that an 8-million-euro Emirati loan saved the National Rally after significant financial difficulties following the 2017 elections.

It confirmed that the National Rally was rescued by an 8-million-euro loan from Laurent Foucher, a French businessman with a strong presence in Africa and close to politician Claude Gueant, with the amount channeled through a bank based in the UAE, fueling speculation about the source of the funds.

Marine Le Pen's European Parliament member, Bernard Monot, admitted to the RTL on October 27, 2016, that they had sought funding from the Middle East.

RTL reported that Emirati intelligence secretly organized Marine Le Pen's visit to Egypt on May 28, 2015, as part of the National Rally's efforts to secure funds and publicity.

Le Monde Afrique revealed on May 30, 2015, that the UAE arranged this trip to Egypt, describing it as an Arab country hostile to Islamists and with a secular vision of religion under the leadership of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. It confirmed that Abu Dhabi will finance Le Pen's party.

During her visit to Egypt, Le Pen met with Sheikh al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb, described as the President of the Muslim Council of Elders formed by Abu Dhabi to rival the International Union of Muslim Scholars led by the late Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

However, Ahmed el-Tayeb responded to her remarks about the convergence of views by asserting that Marine Le Pen's "views" on Islam needed to be "reviewed and corrected."

He also condemned her hostile attitudes towards Islam and Muslims, according to Le Monde Afrique.

Another report by Liberation magazine on April 5, 2022, revealed that Marine Le Pen also funded her 2022 presidential campaign from abroad.

It mentioned a loan from a Hungarian bank amounting to 10.7 million euros to finance her election campaign, as disclosed in her financial statement (declaration of assets) submitted to the High Authority for Transparency overseeing the elections in February 2022.

Le Monde reported on February 2, 2022, that the bank that provided the loan employs relatives of Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister who is a far-right figure like Le Pen, with the bank's name being kept under wraps.

There are strong cooperation and investment ties between the UAE and Hungary, covering various fields, and a friendly relationship between UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Le Pen faced criticism in 2017 when she resorted to a loan from a Russian bank, claiming that French banks were tightening financing on her.

It is believed that this pushed her to seek secret external funding through the UAE, given their shared animosity towards the Islamic movement.

Far-Right 

Egyptian researcher based in Canada, Ramy Aziz, published an article on X explaining the relationship between Emirati funding and the far-right Christian movement.

He stated that French judicial investigations revealed the irony that Le Pen's party was on the verge of collapse following the 2017 presidential elections due to a severe financial crisis.

However, eight-million-euro funding from an Emirati company revived this far-right party, which was on the brink of extinction.

He noted that the UAE is known for its anti-democratic stances and efforts to demonize Muslims in the West by generously funding parties and institutions targeting Islam. This explains its support for Le Pen.

He added that some regional regimes, such as the UAE, have demonized the Arab Spring and incited Europe to reject countries governed by Islamists on its southern borders.

There was a perceived link between the rise of Islamic regimes to power after the Arab Spring and their potential and expected cooperation and alliance with Turkiye, which shares the same values with these new regimes. This alliance would pose a significant threat to Western influence.

France leveraged the downfall of religiously affiliated regimes to its advantage, framing it not only as a crackdown on Islamists but as an assault on Islam itself—a case of political opportunism aimed at settling past grievances with Muslims in France, according to Aziz.

“One of the most prominent aspects of French opportunism is exploiting the climate of attack and incitement against Islam, carried out by some Muslim countries' regimes, to issue a series of draconian laws and measures against Islam in France."

The most dangerous of these was the "Anti-Separatism Law," later renamed the "Respect for the Values of the Republic," promoted as an attempt to preserve the secular values upon which France was founded, and the "Charter of Principles for Islam in France."

The Egyptian researcher explained that Marine Le Pen did not only inherit the party leadership from her father but also inherited a hatred of Islam and Muslims.

Le Pen has continued the party's sacred mission in this area, which it has been pursuing for more than half a century since its founding in 1972, according to Aziz.

He pointed out that her political program aims to uproot Islam from French soil.

She defines Islam as a source of division in France, labeling it an "invasive extremist ideology" rather than a religion, and wants to treat Muslims there as “slaves without rights.”

UAE Objectives

According to reports from French newspapers, the UAE sees the rise of the far-right National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen, as beneficial to its interests, as it will increase restrictions on Islamic associations and movements in France.

The rulers of Abu Dhabi have a particular animosity towards Islamists, especially the Muslim Brotherhood.

During the UAE's crackdown on Muslims and Islamic groups across several European nations, as part of the "Abu Dhabi Secrets" scandal, it came to light that Mohamed bin Zayed's regime commissioned European intelligence firms to spy on these entities, slander them, and stir up European security forces against them.

In April 2024, European judicial authorities brought charges against Alp Services, a Swiss intelligence company employed by the UAE for espionage and defamation. Abu Dhabi was implicated in directing these activities, which targeted and defamed a thousand Europeans and 400 organizations, accusing them of links to or sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood.

It was found that the UAE compiled these names from 18 European countries and mistakenly classified many of them as sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood, leading to multiple lawsuits against Abu Dhabi from these individuals, further exposing the Emirati scandal.

Previously, the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office investigated the Swiss intelligence company working for the UAE in 2023.

This followed a complaint by Rokhaya Diallo, a French journalist and activist, accusing the company of "illegally collecting and disclosing her personal data to the UAE."

Diallo's name appeared as one of the victims of the extensive and illegal spying operation carried out by the UAE through the Swiss intelligence company, targeting a thousand Europeans, including 200 in France.

Abu Dhabi accused them of being "Brothers" and part of a "criminal network" simply because they exposed the UAE's crimes.

Another victim of the UAE's actions is Sihem Souid, a French spokesperson for Qatar in France and Belgium.

On March 27, 2023, Mediapart and The New Yorker revealed that Sihem Souid was monitored, and photos of her home were taken.

In its efforts to bolster and support Le Pen's far-right movement, Abu Dhabi organized a meeting between Le Pen and Egyptian secularists, most notably the former left-wing journalist of the Egyptian National Progressive Unionist Party, Abdel Rahim Ali, to discuss “Islamic extremism and terrorism.”

During the meeting, Marine Le Pen and Abdel Rahim Ali (who was a member of Sisi's parliament) condemned the funding of "Islamic fundamentalism" by "corrupt countries."

The intent was to attack Qatar, accusing it of hosting the Muslim Brotherhood and leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Le Pen cited Ali's anti-Islam statements, saying, "A prophet is not recognized in his own land." and "The Islamic journalist and Egyptian MP Abdel Rahim Ali," came to France to warn about the dangers of "Islamic fundamentalism."

However, Le Figaro, which covered the meeting, reported that the purpose of the UAE bringing Abdel Rahim Ali, who is "loyal to the Egyptian and Emirati authorities," to France to meet Le Pen was to polish the image of her party.