Marine Le Pen’s offices raided over expenses scandal

Le Pen has refused to repay the funds and the European Parliament will begin clawing back the money next month by docking it from her monthly parliamentary salary and allowances of 16,000 euros.

Theresa May is meeting the front-runner to be the next French president for talks at 10 Downing Street.

“Brexit can not lead to a kind of optimisation of Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe”, he said.

“I have examined for several weeks all the elements allowing me to judge our country and I want to say at what point the seriousness of the situation has hit me”.

There are thousands of French citizens residing in Lebanon.

Further polling suggests that, if he came second overall to Ms Le Pen in the first round of voting and entered a final run-off against her, he would win the presidency.

“I claim inexperience and political immaturity”, he told his supporters in London, adding that in France, “political experience is political inefficiency [and] favours for friends”.

However, the Presidential candidate also expressed the hope for deeper bilateral cooperation with Britain on defense. He said Europe needed Britain to be involved in a common security policy with the European Union even after Brexit. This indicates the seriousness with which the British government considers Macron’s chances of eventual success in the upcoming presidential elections. Without naming former prime minister François Fillon, who is caught up in a payments scandal involving his wife, Bayrou criticized what he called “immoral” practices in politics and said he could not join forces with the conservative candidate.

Lebanese protesters hold placards that read, “You are not welcome” during a protest against Ms Le Pen.

While Le Pen has at least 27 percent support, the Elabe poll, like others, shows that she would lose to both Fillon and Macron in the run off vote.

Two top themes of Le Pen’s platform are drastically reducing immigration, and the refugee population, and fighting Islamic extremism.

Shunned by European leaders over her party’s stance on immigration and its anti-EU message, Le Pen’s meeting with Aoun aimed to boost her worldwide credibility. More than 600,000 people were killed and some six million people were displaced in the conflict.

Le Pen’s Lebanese trip is part of her presidential election campaign.

French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has said he would like United Kingdom banks and workers to relocate to his country, following discussions with Theresa May.

The National Front leader’s most likely presidential rivals are the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron or former Prime Minister Francois Fillon with both now expected to defeat Le Pen in May’s final round of voting.