French and European Nationalist Party
Encyclopedia
Celtic cross
A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...
as its emblem and produced a journal entitled Tribune Nationaliste.
The PNFE was made up of a mixture of former members of the FANE
Fane
Fane may refer to:* Fane, Papua New Guinea, village associated with Simona Noorenbergh* Fane * Fane River in Ireland...
which had been prohibited, and of hard line right wingers who had been expelled from the Front National when Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a French far right-wing and nationalist politician who is founder and former president of the Front National party. Le Pen has run for the French presidency five times, most notably in 2002, when in a surprise upset he came second, polling more votes in the first round than...
took on a respectable image after winning a few parliamentary seats in the 1986 elections
French legislative election, 1986
The French legislative elections took place on 16 March 1986 to elect the 8th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. Contrary to other legislative elections of the Fifth Republic, the electoral system used was that of Party-list proportional representation.Since the 1981 election of François...
. It also had a large Skinhead
Nazi-Skinheads
White power skinheads are a white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations....
following and has been blamed for a number of attacks on immigrants including the arson of an immigrant workers' hostel in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
for which 18 members were convicted in 1989. Amongst those initially held was Serge Lecanu, who had led the Fédération professionnelle indépendante de la police (FPIP), a far right police trade union.
The PNFE had strong contacts with the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
and Cornilleau was often a speaker at their annual meetings, being a close friend of John Tyndall
John Tyndall (politician)
John Hutchyns Tyndall was a British politician who was prominently associated with several fascist/neo-Nazi sects. However, he is best known for leading the National Front in the 1970s and founding the contemporary British National Party in 1982.The most prominent figure in British nationalism...
. They regularly attended international rallies, notably in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, where they cemented their links with the BNP as well as the Vlaamse Militanten Orde
Vlaamse Militanten Orde
The Vlaamse Militanten Orde or VMO – originally Vlaamse Militanten Organisatie – was a Flemish nationalist activist group in Belgium defending far-right interests by propaganda and political action...
The group also built up links with the Vlaams Blok
Vlaams Blok
The Vlaams Blok was a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders. From its creation in 1978, it was the most notable militant right wing of the Flemish movement. Vlaams...
and Christian Worch
Christian Worch
Christian Worch is one of the most important figures of the German neo-Nazi scene.In 1974 Worch started a militant group called the Hansabande in Hamburg, along with Michael Kühnen. The group defaced Jewish cemeteries, assaulted leftists and foreigners, and denied the Holocaust...
in Germany.
On 10 May 1990 a Jewish cemetery at Carpentras
Carpentras
Carpentras is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It stands on the banks of the Auzon...
was profaned, leading to public uproar and a protest demonstration in Paris, attended by 200,000 persons, including French President François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
. After several years of investigation, five people, among them three former members of the PFNE, confessed to being the perpetrators of this act (on 2 August 1996). The PNFE rapidly disintegrated within a few days after their arrest.
The group was disbanded in 2000 not long after Eric Sausset became leader. Maxime Brunerie
Maxime Brunerie
Maxime Brunerie is a man who attempted to assassinate French President Jacques Chirac on July 14, 2002 in Paris, during the Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Élysées....
, who attempted to assassinate Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
in 2002 had been associated with the group in the mid 1990s.