From The Independent:
French banks are refusing to give far-right leader Marine Le Pen a loan to help fund her presidential campaign.
The leader of the French nationalist party National Front is struggling to obtain bank loans to finance her campaign, set to start in February, due to what a senior party official has described as “discrimination based on political opinion”.
National Front Secretary General Nicolas Bay told Europe 1 radio on Thursday the party required a loan of around €27 million (£23 million), but that French banks were refusing to “play the game of democracy”…
“There are certain candidates who have a lower guarantee than Marine le Pen, but have obtained bank loans — this poses a real problem of discrimination founded on political opinion.”
French banks Credit Agricole, BPCE and Credit Mutuel did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment, while BNP Paribas declined to comment on the matter…
The French media have in the past published letters from French banks refusing loans to National Front.
