Lawfare Archive: What French Politics Means for Europe and the United States
7/11/20261 hr
From April 10, 2025: On today's episode, Executive Editor Natalie Orpett spoke with Tara Varma, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, about the latest in French politics. On March 31, far-right leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement and banned from politics, though polling showed her in the lead for the 2027 presidential elections. In the last few weeks, current French president Emmanuel Macron has been carving out a place for French leadership amidst the upheaval in Europe’s relationship with the United States. Meanwhile, the push to build European defense capacity—and Trump’s new tariffs—are raising a lot of complicated questions.
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First 90 secondsSarah Willrich0:00
[upbeat music] I'm Sarah Willowrich, intern at Lawfare, with an episode from the Lawfare Archive for July 11, 2026. On June 7th, a French appeals court upheld the conviction of Marine Le Pen, a leader of France's far-right National Rally party, for the misuse of European Parliament funds. However, the court reduced the length of the ban preventing Le Pen from seeking elected office, enabling her to run for president in the 2027 elections. She announced her candidacy the same day. For today's archive, I chose an episode from April 10, 2025, in which Natalie Orpat spoke with Tara Varma, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, about Le Pen's initial conviction and polling that showed her leading the race for president. They connected the events in French politics to French leadership in Europe, the relationship with the United States, and the rise of the European far right.
Natalie Orpett· Host0:55
[upbeat music] It's the Lawfare Podcast. I'm Natalie Orpat, executive editor of Lawfare, with Tara Varma, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Tara Varma· Guest1:16
I really struggle to see them organizing themselves in a European manner. I think they're good at cooperating only when their, uh, interests align fully. Uh, and I think on defense, I, I don't see them