Coronavirus: Marine Le Pen finds it legitimate to wonder if the virus has not "escaped" from a laboratory

Conspiracy theories die hard during the coronavirus crisis. A survey published Saturday by Ifop for the Jean-Jaurès Foundation and the Conspiracy Observatory indicated Sunday that 26% of French people think that the virus was designed in the laboratory. Some 40% of Marine Le Pen's voters in the first round of the 2017 presidential election even believe that the coronavirus was "intentionally" manufactured, and 15% that it was "accidentally".

"These are things that happen"

Questioned on the opinion of her voters Monday morning on France Info, the president of the National Rally first kicked in touch. "Let me tell you the greatest harm I think about this type of study on conspiracy," she eluded. Before adding: "That people wonder if this virus is of natural origin or if it cannot have escaped from a laboratory, it is a matter of common sense," he said. she judged, while saying that she had "no opinion on this subject" .

Read also: More than a quarter of French people think that the coronavirus was made in the laboratory

“In history, I know, because I try not to be uneducated, that a certain number of diseases have escaped from the laboratories, such as myxomatosis for example. These are things that happen, ” said Marine Le Pen. "It doesn't change the situation we are in. Unfortunately, the origin of the virus has no influence on what we are going through , ”she said.

"Doubt is not a crime"

Marine Le Pen also reacted to Gilbert Collard's column, published on the National Rally website last week. The MEP recalled that Yves Lévy, the husband of ex-Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn, had "actively participated in the development of the P4 laboratory, in Wuhan, the city where the Covid-19 arose". He also claimed that he was "angry with Didier Raoult " , the doctor who claims to have found treatment for the coronavirus, " by refusing the Inserm label to the world renowned research center (IHU) which he was leading. "

"There are dozens and dozens of articles that clearly evoke the hostility that exists between Professor Raoult and Inserm," said Marine Le Pen. "It's no secret. Some are questioning whether it is this hostility that is behind the government's decisions, "she said. Before concluding: “In a democracy, we have the right to doubt. In terms of health, we have the right to doubt. Doubt is not a crime, it is not a crime ” .