Le Pen’s new party name linked to Nazis

MARINE LE PEN’S attempt to rechristen her far-right Front National party hit turbulence yesterday over claims that another political group owned the rights to the name and that it had links to Nazi collaborators.

Ms Le Pen on Sunday proposed changing the name of the FN to Rassemblement National – loosely translated as National Rally in English – as part of a makeover aimed at ridding the French far-right party of its racismtinted past and kick-starting its waning political fortunes after election defeat.

She made the proposal at the close of a two-day party conference where members voted to sever ties with Jeanmarie Le Pen, her father, the founder of the movement who has a history of racist and anti-semitic remarks.

It transpires that a hardright “Gaullist sovereignist” movement claims to own the rights to the name, saying it filed for them in 2013. Igor Kurek condemned the FN’S “amateurism”, saying he would sue the party to protects his rights to the name.

Meanwhile, Le Monde pointed out that the words Rassemblement National were inextricably linked to French wartime collaboration with the Nazis as the name of a party started by Marcel Déat in 1941 with the aim of being the Vichy regime’s sole party.