For First Time Ever, French Parliament Backs Text Pushed by Le Pen’s Far Right

France’s National Assembly on Thursday adopted a text put forward by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally for the first time in history, raising questions about the risk of normalizing the far-right party.

In an eye-opening session, 185 lawmakers voted in favor of a nonbinding resolution that urges the government to repeal a 1968 agreement with Algiers that facilitates Algerian immigration to France. A total of 184 lawmakers, mainly from the left, voted against.

The resolution pushed by the National Rally passed by the narrow margin thanks to the decisive support of some right-wing and centrist lawmakers {snip}

Even if the text has no legal effect, the vote marks a major symbolic victory for Le Pen’s party, which has so far been isolated by centrist and left-wing lawmakers due to the so-called cordon sanitaire, a self-imposed unwritten rule preventing them from working with the far right.

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