Just days before the general election, Marine Le Pen has been accused of plagiarising a speech by Francois Fillon.
The leader of the National Front has been accused of using large sections of one of his speeches, despite repeatedly attacking her rival before he was knocked out of the election race.
Le Pen referred to “waiting lists for the Alliance Française [language school] in Shanghai, Tokyo, or Mexico, for the French secondary school in Rabat or Rome”
This passage was identical to Fillon’s speech in Puy-en-Velay on 15 April.
“The resemblance does not stop at this extract,” the Liberation newspaper reported. “Other passages of Marine Le Pen’s speech seem to be inspired, to say the least, by that of Francois Fillon.”
Le Pen also repeated Fillon’s description of borders and ties with “Italy, our sister”, saying: “Then there is the Rhine frontier, the most open, also the most promising – a Germanic world we will yet co-operate with in so many ways, as long as we regain the relationship of allies and not of subjects.”
Mr Fillon had said in his speech: “Then there is the Rhine frontier, the most open, the most dangerous, also the most promising – a Germanic world we have been so often in conflict with and with which we will yet co-operate in so many ways.”
Deputy leader of the National Front party, Florian Philippot, said the party “completely owned up” the similarities made between the speech.
Fillon started off the French presidential race as one of the favourites but his campaign was hit by claims he paid family members for parliamentary jobs they allegedly never performed.
With just Le Pen and Macron left in the race, opinion polls have shown the centrist Macron winning what is widely seen as France’s most important election in decades with between 59 and 61 percent of the vote.