A FRENCH court barred Marine Le Pen today from seeking public office for five years, with immediate effect, for embezzlement.
Ms Le Pen was also sentenced to two years’ imprisonment under house arrest.
In addition, the judge handed down guilty verdicts for embezzling public funds to eight other current or former members of her party who, like Ms Le Pen, previously served as European Parliament lawmakers.
While Italy’s communist tradition remains fragmented and politically marginal, France’s party is attempting to re-establish itself as an independent force rooted in working-class organisation, says NICK WRIGHT
From Reform UK to Trump, Orban and beyond, the far right is organised across borders and growing. Waiting for it to collapse is a fatal error – building an international, locally rooted left alternative is now an urgent necessity., argues ROGER McKENZIE



