Why on earth did Jordan Bardella choose, to represent him during the first debate of the European campaign this Thursday, the MEP most targeted by accusations of collusion with foreign powers?
The elected RN Thierry Mariani was severely criticized by François-Xavier Bellamy over his links with Azerbaijan.
“If we want to defend our democracies, we have a duty to fight against corruption, Mr. Mariani
,” launched the head of the LR list.
“Unfortunately, the only state that has been condemned here for practicing corruption is Azerbaijan.
This State to which you are so close
.
Thierry Mariani's links with the oil autocracy of the Caucasus are regularly highlighted in investigations into the
“caviar diplomacy”
practiced by Baku to extend its influence.
According to the investigation published jointly by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and around ten newspapers including
Le Monde
and
The Guardian
in 2017, Baku spent 2.5 billion euros between 2012 and 2014 to attach support abroad, within the Council of Europe, but also in France through the Association of Friends of Azerbaijan.
A group of which the elected representative of the National Rally has been a member for a long time.
The MEP is also known to be close to Mehriban Alieva, both wife and vice-president of the current head of state Ilham Aliev - himself just re-elected with 97% of the vote.
According to Nice Matin, the MEP would supplement his MEP allowances with shares in oil and gas lobbying companies linked to Azerbaijan.
“You betrayed”
“I am happy that you are here
,” declared François-Xavier Bellamy to the attention of his opponent from the RN,
“because it is the opportunity to tell you face to face, and to tell the French face to face the reality of what the National Rally is doing in this Parliament.”
And to invite people to talk, in addition to Ukraine, about the
“subject of Armenia”
.
The head of the LR list recalled that the RN abstained on Wednesday during the vote in the European Parliament on a resolution in favor of a closer relationship between the European Union and Armenia.
Renew MEP Nathalie Loiseau
had
herself
noted
on
to abandon a
“trophy park”
displaying the Armenian dead.
“You still support him, Mr. Aliev, who today wants to eliminate this (Armenian) people attacked because they are Christian, because they are European,”
continued François-Xavier Bellamy.
“The truth, Mr. Mariani, and I am happy to tell you: (these values are those) that you have betrayed (...) all over the world, with the friendships that you have built
,” he said. He denounces.
While the RN MEP, who sits in Brussels – ironically – in the commission responsible for fighting
“foreign interference”,
is also the target of an investigation for corruption linked to Russia, François-Xavier Bellamy recalled that
“ Europe is not only attacked”
by the Ukrainian front.
“We live in a world where authoritarian powers want to demonstrate that violence can prevail over law.
If we let this demonstration take place, we will all lose
,” he insisted, in reference to the belligerent declarations of Ilham Aliev threatening Armenia.
Other participants in the debate on European women also criticized Thierry Mariani for his connections with foreign powers.
PS-Place Publique candidate Raphaël Glucksmann described the RN candidate as
“the Kremlin’s little telegraph operator”
.
“You are on the European Parliament’s blacklist,”
he shouted.
“You and your allies are a fifth column in democracy
,” said the candidate, pointing out Thierry Mariani’s proximity to Vladimir Putin.
“You served soup to this diet.”
“The only corruption we have seen is in the camp of Mr. Glucksamnn
,” retorted the MEP, citing Qatargate.
Most of the people arrested by the Belgian police as part of this vast anti-corruption operation within the European Parliament still belonged to or worked for the socialist group.