Jean-François Jalkh (; born 23 May 1957) is a French politician who is the current

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for the

National Rally The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...

, representing East France from 2014 to 2019 and France from 2019 to 2024. On 25 April 2017, after the resignation of

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...

as leader of the National Front, Jalkh was named as the interim leader. He stepped down three days later, on 28 April, after being heavily criticised on comments made about

Nazi extermination camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...

(see below). He was replaced by

Steeve Briois Steeve Briois (; born 28 November 1972) is a French politician. In 2017, he was interim leader of the National Front. In 2014, he was elected mayor of Hénin-Beaumont and a member of the European Parliament. From 2011 to 2014, he was general-se ...

as Interim Leader. He is known for his "vieille garde" (old guard) views, relating to the pre- de-demonisation platform of the FN, such as calling the use of

Zyklon B Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consists of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

"technically impossible" and opposing the expulsion of

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (20 June 1928 – 7 January 2025), commonly known as Jean-Marie Le Pen (), was a French politician, lawyer and activist. He founded the far-right National Front (now National Rally) party and served as the party's presi ...

from the Front National.

References

1957 births Living people People from Tournan-en-Brie French people of Lebanese descent Politicians from Île-de-France Deputies of the 8th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic National Rally MEPs MEPs for East France 2014–2019 MEPs for France 2019–2024 French Holocaust deniers National Rally politicians {{France-politician-FN-stub