Le Pen's far-right party locks in €10.6M campaign loan talks with foreign banks

Marine Le Pen's National Rally has struck a preliminary agreement with two European banks for a €10.6 million loan to bankroll her presidential campaign, party treasurer Kevin Pfeffer said Tuesday. The lenders are not French, and Pfeffer declined to name them. He said they are expected to answer by the end of the month, and that he is 'quite optimistic'.

The deal recognizes 'the reliability and credibility of the party's application, which offers all the necessary guarantees', Pfeffer said. Polls put Le Pen as the front-runner to take over from centrist President Emmanuel Macron in next spring's election.

Getting the money has been the hard part. In France, a presidential campaign can only be financed through donations or a bank loan, and several French banks — Societe Generale and La Banque Postale among them — have refused, saying they no longer fund political activity. Pfeffer described the talks with the two foreign lenders as 'very advanced'.

The RN has a history of hunting beyond France for cash. In 2022 it landed a €10.6 million loan from a Hungarian bank, and in the past it took out a €9.4 million loan with a Moscow bank, which was paid off in 2023.

There's a safety net at the finish line: candidates who make it to the second round can claim state reimbursement of campaign expenses of up to €10.7 million. Until the banks sign off, though, the clock is ticking. Pfeffer warned at a congress in Orleans in October that the party could fund a campaign at a normal pace only until the end of this year, and would then have to 'find another solution'.