‘The law is the same for everyone’: Macron addresses Le Pen verdict for first time and criticises threats against judges – Europe live | Europe
Macron: 'threats made against judges are absolutely unbearable and intolerable'
French President Emmanuel Macron has commented for the first time since Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from running in France’s next presidential election.
Opening a weekly meeting of French ministers, Macron addressed the court’s decision by recalling the three things government spokesperson Sophie Primas said.
They were “that the judiciary is independent”, “that the threats made against judges are absolutely unbearable and intolerable”, and that “the law is the same for everyone”, Politico reports.
Macron also stated that “all defendants have the right to legal recourse,” Primas said.
Key events
Hungary has deployed soldiers and launched new disinfection measures to help contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in a northwestern area bordering Slovakia and Austria, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday.
Hungary reported its first case in more than 50 years of the disease, which often leads to trade restrictions, on a cattle farm early last month, Reuters reports.
Since then, neighbouring Slovakia has detected outbreaks at five locations after reporting its first cases in March. It has also stepped up measures to contain the disease’s spread.
Hungarian agriculture minister Istvan Nagy said foot-and-mouth disease was found at two additional farms in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county by Wednesday morning, affecting 3,500 cattle.
Angela Giuffrida
Italy’s interior ministry has written to police forces across the country to increase security at Tesla dealerships after 17 of the electric cars made by Elon Musk’s company were destroyed in a fire in Rome.
Italy’s state police anti-terrorism unit, Digos, is investigating whether the fire at the Tesla dealership in Torre Angela, a suburb in the east of the capital, was started by anarchists.
Firefighters worked for hours to put out the blaze in the early hours of Monday. Drone images showed a row of the burnt-out remains of the vehicles in a parking area of the dealership. Using his social media platform, X, Musk referred to it as “terrorism”.
There are 13 Tesla dealerships in Italy, all managed by the parent company, the majority of them in Rome, but also in other cities including Florence and Milan.
An interior ministry source said the circular was aimed at “raising awareness” of possible anti-Tesla protesters amid a global wave of vandalism in response to Musk’s political activities in the US. If needed, surveillance of dealerships would be increased, it said.
French president Emmanuel Macron was convening key ministers and experts on Wednesday to discuss Iran, including its nuclear programme, amid growing tensions between Tehran and US President Donald Trump, three diplomatic sources told Reuters.
Such a cabinet meeting dedicated to a specific subject is rare and highlights mounting concern among Washington’s European allies that the United States and Israel could launch air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities unless there is a quick negotiated deal on its nuclear programme.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has reinforced US military capability in the Middle East with more warplanes, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, amid a US bombing campaign against the Houthis who control much of Yemen and are supported by Iran.
A senior European official said European strategists were asking themselves whether the campaign could be a precursor to a US strike on Iran in the coming months.
Three Spanish citizens and one Australian have been detained attempting to reach the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday, citing a source.
The outsized role of the United States in the global economy means that economic policy moves there can influence economic decisions in Europe, European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel said on Wednesday in Paris.
Judge in Le Pen case given police protection after death threats
The judge who barred far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running in France’s 2027 presidential election is under police protection after facing death threats and having her home address shared online, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Benedicte de Perthuis - the head of a three-judge panel that found Le Pen guilty of embezzling EU funds and handed her a five-year ban on seeking public office - is now receiving police protection at work and at home.
De Perthuis also received threats on social media, with her photo plastered all over X and far-right sites.
Paris police confirmed an investigation was underway into the threats, referring further queries to the Paris prosecutor’s office, which did not respond.
Denmark’s prime minister is visiting Greenland on Wednesday for talks with the territory’s incoming government, following US President Donald Trump’s repeated expressions of interest in controlling the Arctic island, Reuters reports.
Mette Frederiksen begins her three-day trip less than a week after a visit to the territory by US vice-president JD Vance received a frosty reception from authorities in Denmark and Greenland.
Prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen. Photograph: Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images
Greenland’s incoming prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who won last month’s general election and will form a coalition government, has said he welcomes Frederiksen‘s trip, stating on Monday that Denmark remains “Greenland’s closest partner”.
Nielsen told Reuters on Monday that Greenland would strengthen its ties with Denmark until it could fulfil its ultimate wish to become a sovereign nation.
Meanwhile, Greenland wishes to establish a respectful relationship with the United States, he said.
“Talking about annexation and talking about acquiring Greenland and not respecting the sovereignty is not respectful, he said. “So let’s start by being respectful to each other and build up a great partnership on everything.”
The introduction of new US tariffs would hit Italian producers hard, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said in Rome on Wednesday, adding that every effort should be made to avoid a trade war, Reuters reports.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit Hungary today, defying an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued over allegations of war crimes in Gaza.
During the visit, which runs until Sunday, Netanyahu will meet his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán, who invited him in November, soon after the ICC issued the arrest warrant.
Orbán said at the time that the warrant would “not be observed”.
All European Union member states, including Hungary, are members of the ICC, which means they are required to enforce its warrants.
Orbán, a right-wing nationalist, has often been at odds with the EU over democratic standards and human rights in Hungary.
The Times of Israel reported a source as saying Netanyahu and Orbán will discuss potential Hungarian support for US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that a visit to the US by President Vladimir Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, was “possible”, and that contacts with the US were continuing.
Reuters reported that Dmitriev is expected in Washington this week for talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration.
