Honorific-Suffix: | MEP |
Jean-François Jalkh | |
Office: | Leader of the National Front |
Term Start: | 25 April 2017 |
Term End: | 28 April 2017 |
Predecessor: | Marine Le Pen |
Constituency Mp1: | East France |
Parliament1: | European |
Term Start1: | 1 July 2014 |
Birth Date: | 23 May 1957 |
Birth Place: | Tournan-en-Brie, France |
Party: | National Front |
Jean-François Jalkh (in French pronounced as /ʒɑ̃fʁɑ̃swa ʒalk/; born 23 May 1957) is a French politician who is the current Member of the European Parliament for the National Rally, representing East France[1] from 2014 to 2019 and France from 2019 to 2024.
On 25 April 2017, after the resignation of Marine Le Pen as leader of the National Front, Jalkh was named as the interim leader. He stepped down three days later, on April 28, after being heavily criticised on comments made about Nazi extermination camps (see below). He was replaced by Steeve Briois 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 in the Holocaust "technically impossible"[2] and opposing the expulsion of Jean-Marie Le Pen from the Front National.