WHO IS WHO – Marine Le Pen: French politician who would withdraw recognition of Kosovo’s independence

French politician Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally party has achieved a significant breakthrough in the French Senate, has consistently supported Serbia’s sovereignty and has argued that unilateral moves by Pristina do not contribute to stability and peace in the region.

Throughout her political career, Le Pen has repeatedly stated that Kosovo should not be independent and that a grave injustice was done to the Serbs.

During the 2017 presidential election campaign, she said that, if elected, she would reverse France’s recognition of Kosovo, describing Kosovo as “sacred Serbian and Christian land.”

“Kosovo is sacred Serbian and Christian land, the last barrier against the creation of a new Islamic State in Europe. A tremendous injustice was done to the Serbs in the 1990s, and Europe has a duty to rectify that injustice,” Le Pen said at the time.

In more recent years and during subsequent election cycles, Le Pen and her party have spoken less frequently about reversing France’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence, although their critical positions toward NATO and the European Union have remained prominent.

Relations with Serbia

Le Pen has on several occasions criticized the way European officials have treated Serbia. She has opposed Serbia’s membership in the European Union, reflecting her own longstanding criticism of the European integration project.

She said she had been shocked by the way her country treated Serbia and its President during the commemoration of the centenary of the end of the First World War.

“I was quite shocked by the way the President of Serbia was treated, while the President of Kosovo, a country that did not exist in 1914–1918, was seated immediately behind Emmanuel Macron. As far as I remember, Serbia lost a quarter of its population in that war,” Le Pen said in 2018.

Regarding EU enlargement, she has argued that every enlargement is detrimental.

“Serbia is a friendly country. And when you are someone’s friend and you care about them, you do not invite them to join you in a nightmare. Joining the EU is a certain path toward bankruptcy and the erosion of the social progress achieved over the past fifty years,” Le Pen said in 2016.

Policy toward NATO

Le Pen has advocated France’s withdrawal from NATO’s integrated military command. Such a policy would entail the withdrawal of French military personnel from NATO’s joint or subordinate command structures.

In the defense policy section of her program for the 2022 presidential election, Le Pen said France would seek to strengthen and deepen all of its existing strategic partnerships in key areas while pursuing new ones, including with Greece and Cyprus in Europe, to which Hungary and Serbia should also be added.

New presidential candidacy

Le Pen took over the leadership of the National Front, later renamed the National Rally, from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. She was the party’s presidential candidate in the 2012, 2017 and 2022 elections.

Following the 2022 presidential election, she had already stepped down as party president. In 2025, she was convicted of embezzlement and initially barred from standing for public office for five years. That sanction was subsequently reduced on appeal, allowing her to run in the 2027 presidential election.

In the latest Senate elections, held on Sunday, September 27, the National Rally and its allies secured enough seats to form a parliamentary group in the Senate for the first time, with reports putting the bloc at around 14 seats. Le Pen described the result as a “historic victory.”

Biography

Marine Le Pen was born on August 5, 1968, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, and is a lawyer by profession.

She is the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front, which changed its name to National Rally in 2018. She became involved in politics at a young age and succeeded her father as party leader in 2011.

Time magazine included Le Pen among its 100 most influential people in the world in 2011 and 2015. Politico ranked her as the second most influential Member of the European Parliament in 2016, behind then-European Parliament President Martin Schulz. She has since remained one of the central figures in French politics and is campaigning for the 2027 presidential election. Recent reporting identifies her as the National Rally’s presidential candidate.