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The Jeanne Committees () is a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

founded by

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (20 June 1928 – 7 January 2025), commonly known as Jean-Marie Le Pen (), was a French politician, lawyer and activist. He founded the far-right National Front (now National Rally) party and served as the party's presi ...

after his exclusion from the National Front in France in 2015.

Creation

, the founder and leader of the National Front (FN) party in France, was initially suspended from the party in May 2015 after claiming that the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

was "a detail of history". After Le Pen successfully challenged the suspension in court, an extraordinary party congress was held in August 2015, and he was expelled from the party. After considering the creation of a "blue-white-red gathering" in order to "act in the same direction as the national Front" without necessarily belonging to it, he announced, in March 2016, the creation of the Comités Jeanne, named after

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

, whose slogan is "Jeanne, au secours!" ("Joan, help!" in English), to weigh on the political line of the FN, and planned to present candidates under this label in the legislative elections of 2017, including against FN candidates. He called on supporters to vote for the FN in the regional elections of 2015 and indicated that the fund-raising organization "Cotelec" had lent six million euros to the FN for the presidential campaign of 2017. On 17 November 2016, a court of justice in France validated the exclusion of Jean-Marie Le Pen from the National Front without questioning his status as honorary president, thus retaining his right to be summoned to all the party's meetings.

Ideology

French political commentators have placed Comités Jeanne on the far-right of the

left–right political spectrum The left–right political spectrum is a system of classifying political positions, ideologies and political parties, parties, with emphasis placed upon issues of social equality and social hierarchy. In addition to positions on the left and on ...

. The party espouses nationalist rhetoric that is staunchly

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...

. The party is also

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

, opposing further European integration it seeks to maintain and preserve France's

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

. The charter of the party further outlining its ideology and objectives can be read on Jean Marie Le Pen's website. On 14 February 2023, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) released a report in which it classified the Comités Jeanne as a "white nationalist" and "anti-immigrant" group.

Campaigns and organization

The party's president was

. Lorrain de Saint Affrique was general secretary since 2016. The cartel involving the Jeanne committees is unable to access public funding, having raised more than 1% of the votes cast in 41 constituencies, or less than the 50 constituencies required. For the French presidential election of 2017,

officially said that he supported his daughter

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...

's presidential bid. For the French legislative election of 2017, the Comités Jeanne made an alliance with the Party of France,

Civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

, , and . Jean-Marie Le Pen also traveled to recruit legislative candidates under the banner "Jeanne, au secours!"

Organization

The founder of the party and its president until his death in January 2025 was Jean-Marie Le Pen. Laurent Ozon was general secretary of the party from 2016-2017. Former Departmental secretary of the National Front, Lorraine of Saint Affrique, has served as the current general secretary since 2017.

International connections

In 2018 party founder and leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, joined the

Alliance for Peace and Freedom The Alliance for Peace and Freedom (APF) is a far-right European political alliance and former European political party founded on 4 February 2015. The main member parties were involved in the defunct European National Front. The alliance wi ...

European political party A European political party, formerly known as a political party at European levelArticle 10.4 of the 2007 Treaty on European Union states that "political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness" and Regul ...

as "honorary chairman". Subsequently, the Comités Jeanne joined the party as an associate member.

Elected officials

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Comites Jeanne Far-right political parties in France French nationalist parties Jean-Marie Le Pen Political parties established in 2015 2015 establishments in France