Premier Giorgia Meloni has said that Marine Le Pen's conviction on Monday by a French court of the illegal use of European Parliament funds was a sad day for democracy.
The leader of the parliamentary party of the right-wing National Rally (RN) group was handed a four-year prison term, which will be served with an electronic tag, and banned from running for office for five years. "I don't know the nature of the accusations made against Marine Le Pen, nor the reasons for such a tough decision, but I think that no one who cares about democracy can celebrate a ruling that affects the leader of a major party and takes away the representation of millions of citizens," Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, told daily newspaper Il Messaggero. On Monday Deputy Premier, Transport Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini said that Brussels has declared war on Le Pen after the sentence was announced.
"Those who fear the judgment of voters are often reassured by the judgment of the courts," said Salvini, whose League belongs to the Patriots for Europe group that RN is also part of.
"In Paris they have condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to exclude her from political life.
"It's a bad film that we are also seeing in other countries, such as Romania.
"That (ruling) against Marine Le Pen is a declaration of war by Brussels, at a time when the warlike impulses of (EC President Ursula) Von der Leyen and (French President Emmanuel) Macron are frightening.
"We will not be intimidated, we will not stop: full steam ahead my friend!"
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