2023-06-16 03:38:09
Candidates in the legislative elections have less recourse to bank loans and increasingly to individuals to finance their campaigns, indicates the Campaign Accounts Commission, which warns of the risks that this may present. It presents its 2022 activity report this Thursday morning. In the last legislative elections, of the 24 million euros borrowed by the candidates, 7 million were borrowed from individuals. One party in particular uses this method: the National Rally.
These include “mirror loans”, that is to say loans granted to candidates by his party which itself has borrowed from individuals. The use of this type of financing is prohibited for candidates in the presidential election, but not in the legislative elections. The Commission warns on several points: “Borrowing from individuals does not make it possible to ensure the origin of the funds lent by them” and there is a “risk that a market develops for lenders usually“.
The campaigns of 153 RN candidates financed with “mirror loans”
Resorting to individuals is a practice that has become essential for certain parties, the RN in the lead. Last June, it thus financed 153 candidates with “mirror loans”. These loans are governed by a 2017 law, but today it poses difficulties for the Campaign Accounts Commission, because “unlike grants, loans are not capped – or rather, they are capped at a very high level, so high that it no longer makes much sense“, explains the president of the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Funding (CNCCFP), Jean-Philippe Vachia. “And then, as curious as it may seem, there is no condition of French nationality imposed to grant a loan, so anyone can lend”, he continues. The origin and repayments of these funds are therefore difficult to verify.
Another concern for Jean-Philippe Vachia: that a market of “habitual lenders” is developing. “The law prohibits a private individual from turning into a kind of banker. We are looking at this very seriously and our report is intended as a warning to candidates or parties, telling them to be careful: if you always use the same lenders, there is a risk for you“, warns Jean-Philippe Vachia.
The commission therefore recommends modifying the law to tighten the conditions for granting these loans. It also calls for more resources and for example to be able to exchange with the Tracfin intelligence service, in case of doubt regarding the origin of the funds.
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