Daniel Féret (born 7 August 1944 in

Momignies Momignies (; pcd, Momgniye) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Momignies had a total population of 5,125. The total area is 85.58 km², which gives a population density of 60 inhabit ...

) is

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

politician most noted as founder and long-term leader of the National Front. Féret worked as a physician.David Art, ''Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe'', Cambridge University Press, 2011, p. 68 In his youth Féret was a member of the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

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and subsequently the populist Union Democratique du Travail.Piero Ignazi, ''Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe'', Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 129 He was not a leading member in either group however and did not become well-known figure until later. He established the National Front in 1985. He was elected a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

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, holding the seat until 1999. His personal political philosophy was inspired almost wholly by that of the

French National Front The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: * ...

, which he sought to copy, although his own party attracted an eclectic membership of extremists, ranging from populists to

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s. On 18 April 2006 he was sentenced to 250 hours of community service for the incitement to hatred, discrimination and segregation in the party's flyers and website. As a result of this case he was prohibited from standing for parliamentary elections for ten years. He remained party leader from its foundation until 2008. He was eventually forced out by disgruntled party members who accused him variously of deliberately retarding the development of party organisation in order to ensure his personal control and of using the party as a personal source of wealth.Art, ''Inside the Radical Right'', p. 64

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feret, Daniel 1944 births Living people 20th-century Belgian physicians National Front (Belgium) politicians MEPs for Belgium 1989–1994 20th-century Belgian criminals People from Hainaut (province)