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Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (French:[e.rikzɛ.mur]ⓘ; born 31 August 1958) is a Frenchfar-right[a][b] politician, essayist, writer and political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist onFace à l'Info, a daily show broadcast onCNews, from 2019 to 2021.[2] He ran in the2022 French presidential election, in which he placed fourth in the first round.
Born in the Parisian suburb ofMontreuil, Zemmour studied atSciences Po. He worked as a reporter forLe Quotidien de Paris from 1986 to 1996. He then joinedLe Figaro, where he worked until 2021.[c] Zemmour also became known as a television personality, appearing as a pundit or co-host on shows such asOn n'est pas couché onFrance 2 (2006–2011) andÇa se dispute onI-Télé (2003–2014), as well asZemmour et Naulleau (2011–2021), a weekly eveningtalk show onParis Première, together with literary criticÉric Naulleau.[7] Zemmour also worked forRTL from 2010 until 2019, first hosting the daily radio show,Z comme Zemmour, prior to joiningYves Calvi's morning news show as an analyst. His bookThe French Suicide (Le Suicide français) sold more than 500,000 copies in 2014.[8][9]
Zemmour is well known for his controversial views regardingimmigration andIslam in France. He has extensively supported the idea of the "great replacement", a conspiracy theory contending that France's native population will be replaced by non-European people.[10] Zemmour was fined for incitement toracial discrimination in 2011 and for incitement ofhate against Muslims in 2018. He appealed the conviction before theEuropean Court of Human Rights but he lost the appeal.[11] He was acquitted six times of similar charges, in 2008, 2014 (twice), 2016, 2017 and 2019. Convictions in 2015 and 2020 were overturned on appeal.
Zemmour announced his candidacy for the 2022 French presidential election on 30 November 2021.[12] On 5 December 2021, he launchedReconquête, anationalist political party.[13] In 2021, aNew York Times article described Zemmour's views as "hard-line... on immigration, Islam's place in France and national identity",[10] while he self-identifies asGaullist andBonapartist.[14] During his presidential campaign, Zemmour advocated vast changes in France's political system. He endorsedMarine Le Pen for the second round.[15]
Zemmour was born on 31 August 1958 in theSeine department, now part ofSeine-Saint-Denis. According to Zemmour himself, his parents wereBerber Jews. Although Arabic-speaking fromFrench Algeria, they heldFrench citizenship in accordance with theCrémieux Decree of 1870.[16][17][18] They had moved tometropolitan France in 1952, before theAlgerian War, alongside their parents and siblings.[19][20] Upon their arrival in France, Zemmour's paternal grandparents, born Liaou and Messouka, took the names Justin and Rachel, and maternal grandmother, born Ourida, took her middle name Claire. Zemmour's maternal grandfather—who served as his namesake—was named Léon.[21]
Zemmour's parents were Roger Zemmour, aparamedic, and Lucette, ahousewife.[22] His father was often absent and so he was principally raised by his mother and grandmother; he has since said that this helped him to forge his character, and that it was his mother who instilled in him drive and ambition for excellence.[23][24] He has one younger brother, Jean-Luc.[25]
Zemmour grew up first inDrancy and later in theParis Château Rouge quarter.[22] He was brought up in the Jewish faith.[26] Although private about his faith, he follows the directions of theHalakha and attended synagogues frequently until the death of his father in 2013.[21] He has stated that hisJewish name is "Moïse".[27][21][28]
Zemmour has been married to Mylène Chichportich, a bankruptcy lawyer ofTunisian Jewish descent, since 1982. Chichportich maintains a low media profile and never comments on her husband's controversies. The couple has two sons and a daughter.[32]
In 2021, Zemmour was alleged by French gossip magazines to have impregnated his chief campaign advisorSarah Knafo.[33] He recognised her as his partner in January 2022.[34] Knafo later denied ever having been pregnant.[35]
In a 2014 interview withLe Point, Zemmour stated that although he does not believe in God, he keeps akosher home and occasionally attends synagogue services onHigh Holy Days.[36]
Zemmour began his career in 1986 on the politics desk atLe Quotidien de Paris, under the editorship of Philippe Tesson. After the newspaper went out of business in 1994, he became a lead writer atInfo-Matin, where he stayed for a year. He joinedLe Figaro in 1996 as apolitical journalist. During this period, Zemmour was also afreelancer forMarianne (1997) and forValeurs actuelles (1999).[37]
According toLibération, Zemmour had called for a political union of the French right-wing parties during the 1990s, cultivating contacts with the founder and president of the National FrontJean-Marie Le Pen ("who Zemmour was unique amongst journalists in addressing as president"), as well as his rival,Bruno Mégret.[38]
In 2009, Zemmour was moved byLe Figaro toLe Figaro Magazine, allegedly after making controversial statements in other media, but in fact, due to his salary being considered too high for his modest weekly output.[39][40] He was moved back toLe Figaro as a permanent journalist in 2013, where he wrote regularly, including as a literary reviewer, until he took time off in September 2021 to promote his new book.[41]
Zemmour was a political columnist atLe Spectacle du Monde, a monthly publication by theValeurs Actuelles group, from 2013 until it ceased publication in July 2014.
Zemmour has written biographies of Prime MinisterÉdouard Balladur (Balladur, immobile à grands pas, or "Balladur, Motionless With Great Strides") and PresidentJacques Chirac (L'Homme qui ne s'aimait pas, or "The Man Who Did Not Like Himself") along with political essays. Notably, in 2006 he publishedLe premier sexe ("The First Sex"), a book on what he considers to be thefeminisation of society. He worked on the screenplay for the filmDans la peau de Jacques Chirac by Michel Royer andKarl Zéro, although the latter stated that Zemmour's writing was only used to a limited extent.[42] In 2008, he publishedPetit Frère, in a limited run of 63,000 copies, in which he criticised "antiracist angelism". In March 2010, with his bookMélancolie française ("French Melancholy"), which won thePrix du livre incorrect (lit.'Inappropriate Book Award'), he considers alternatehistories of France, that imagines if some events had not happened.[43]
In 2014, Zemmour publishedLe Suicide français ("The French Suicide"), which sold over half a million copies and remains his best literary success to date.[44] In it, he defends his thesis that the French nation-state has weakened since the 1970s, which he most notably attributes to the influence of the "May '68 generation".
InDestin français ("French Destiny"), published in 2018, he put events from his own life story in the context of various historical events. He once again addressed the history of France, as well as discussing the influence of Islam in France, which he sees as growing generally in French society.[45]
His bookLa France n'a pas dit son dernier mot ("France Has Not Spoken Its Last Word"), released on 15 September 2021, made Zemmour an estimated €1.3 million in three weeks, according toLe Parisien, selling over 80,000 copies in the first four days[46] and 165,000 copies in the first 3 weeks.[47][48]
Beginning in September 2003, he participated weekly on the showÇa se dispute on the 24-hour news channeli>Télé first alongsideChristophe Barbier and laterNicolas Domenach. The channel decided to cancel the programme in December 2014, after Zemmour's comments on Islam in the Italian newspaperCorriere della Sera. The channel was later ordered to pay Zemmour €50,000 for wrongful breach of contract.[49]
Zemmour also appeared onVendredi pétantes onCanal+ until June 2006, and starting September 2006, he rejoinedFrance 2 to participate on the showOn n'est pas couché, hosted byLaurent Ruquier, accompanied byMichel Polac and thenÉric Naulleau, where they were responsible for presenting honest criticism of films, books or most notably musical albums. During the show, their exchanges with cultural figures sometimes ended in clashes. On 27 May 2011, Ruquier announced inLe Parisien that he was replacing Zemmour and Naulleau with new contributors for the next season ofOn n'est pas couché.[50]
Éric Zemmour was also a participant on the showL'Hebdo as an editorialist on Tempo, a channel for theoverseas departments and territories; he was accompanied by, among others, sociologistDominique Wolton. Finally, he was on the cable networkHistoire on the showLe grand débat, hosted byMichel Field.[51] Since 4 January 2010, he has presented a short piece onRTL entitledZ comme Zemmour every Monday and Friday, during which he presents topical news analysis.[52] Since September 2011, he has hostedZemmour et Naulleau alongside Éric Naulleau, an evening talk show onParis Première.[53] In 2021, Zemmour's show was receiving about 900,000 nightly viewers, ten times higher than in 2019.[44]
In 2015, following theCharlie Hebdo shooting, Zemmour was temporarily placed under armed police protection.[54] On 30 April 2020, Zemmour was insulted and threatened in Paris as he was walking by himself carrying bags of groceries. The incident was recorded by the perpetrator himself who posted the video on social media, boasting about his act as Zemmour was filmed ignoring the man and trying to walk away.[55] Shortly thereafter, Zemmour received a phone call from PresidentEmmanuel Macron in which they discussed the incident. The perpetrator, who later also recorded himself saying Zemmour is "too good at debate, what do you want to do except insult him",[56] received a suspended prison sentence of three months on 8 September 2020.[57] On 27 September 2021, Zemmour was again threatened in Paris, when a man shouted a death threat in the name ofIslam.[58] Since October 2020, he has again been under permanent armed police protection.[59]
Zemmour at a meeting next to theTrocadéro, 27 March 2022
Zemmour's potential candidacy for the French presidency was first discussed in 2019[61] as no clear candidate from the traditional right-wing parties had emerged in advance of the2022 French presidential election. Zemmour then announced that he was thinking about "a platform of ideas for the right". The media also took notice of the presence in his entourage of Sarah Knafo, a political campaigner.[62]
In 2021, he engaged in a national tour of France to promote of his new book,La France n'a pas dit son dernier mot.[63] Appearing as a guest onFrance 2 on 11 September inLaurent Ruquier'sOn est en direct programme,[64] Zemmour would not confirm whether he would announce his candidacy.[65] He reiterated this position throughout September onRTL,[66]BFMTV,[67]CNews,[68] andLCI.[69] On 28 September,Le Parisien revealed that Zemmour already had at his disposal a large office space, in the8th arrondissement of Paris, rented by the association "The Friends of Éric Zemmour".[70]
On 24 September, Zemmour engaged in a widely publicized two-hour-long televised debate with left-wing presidential candidateJean-Luc Mélenchon, attracting over 3.8 million viewers.[71][72] On 30 November Eric Zemmour declared himself a candidate for the 2022 presidential election.[73] On 5 December, he revealed his political party would be called "Reconquête".[13] On 9 December 2021, Zemmour debatedBruno Le Maire onElysée 2022, apresidential debate which was aired onFrance 2. During the debate, he said that the#MeToo is a movement of "eradication of men".[74] Zemmour finished in fourth place during the first round of the 2022 election and was eliminated. He subsequently endorsedMarine Le Pen ahead of the second round.[75]
Zemmour's candidacy has been tested in several polls since June 2021.[76] The first time he appeared in a poll, in June 2021, theInstitut français d'opinion publique (IFOP) credited him with 5.5% of the vote.[77][76] In August 2021, he was credited with 7% of voting intentions according toIpsos.[78] On 14 September he was credited byHarris Interactive with 10% of voting intentions.[79]
On 1 October 2021, with opinion polls showing him with 15% of voting intentions, putting him in third place overall, only 1 point behindNational Rally candidateMarine Le Pen. Hence, he was in a potentially competitive position to reach the second round of the election.[80] On 6 October, Zemmour reached 17% of voting intentions, in second place among all of the candidates for the first time, which, if realized, would have seen him reach the second voting round.[81] Throughout October and November, before the confirmation ofThe Republicans' candidate, Le Pen and Zemmour were close in polls to come second behind Macron in the first round.[82][83][84]
In December 2021, polls credited him with 12–14% of the vote, placing him fourth in the race, behind Macron,Valérie Pécresse (who had won the primary for The Republicans on 4 December) and Le Pen.[85][86][87] In mid-January 2022, BBC correspondent Hugh Schofield commented following Zemmour's hate speech conviction that "in the last few weeks, Zemmour's star, which shone so brightly in the autumn, has shown distinct signs of fading. This verdict will entrench some in their support for the man. But it may also convince others that he is indeed beyond the pale".[88]
This sectionmay beunbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please helpimprove it by adding information on neglected viewpoints. Relevant discussion may be found on thetalk page.(October 2021)
Zemmour identifies his political leanings as "Gaullo-Bonapartiste", a set of views inspired byGaullism andBonapartism.[96][97] This has been defined in more concrete terms by the historianNicolas Lebourg, who wrote that Zemmour's politics are defined by four elements. Firstly,Bonapartism: Zemmour believes in the importance of "great men" in the fate of a country. Secondly,unitarism, a great importance is given to the unity of a nation state. Thirdly, "complete sovereignty": Zemmour believes that all of a nation's problems can be solved by the sovereignty of the nation state. The fourth element of Zemmour's ideas is a "nationalism obsessed with decadence" which would take the form of a sort of Darwinism: if the French people don't change, they will be "swept away by history".[98]
Zemmour has been commonly presented as a "far-rightpundit" in French[99] and international[100][12][101][102] media. HistorianLaurent Joly wrote in 2015 that "sinceBarrès andMaurras, no other intellectual, journalist or writer has had this status as a broker of far-right ideas with a very large readership".[103]
On the contrary, political scientistJean-Yves Camus has opposed designating Zemmour as far-right, claiming that Zemmour was not afascist or aNazi.[104] Asked in October 2021 on the positioning of Eric Zemmour in relation to Marine Le Pen, Camus ranks him "on the right", more precisely in the "radical conservative right".[105][106][107] Some French media outlets also present him "on the right", in the "conservative right", or as Gaullist, or in the "sovereignist right", or in the "radical right", or in the "radical and identitary right".[b]
Interviewed in August 2021 on his views on immigration in France, Zemmour declared: "We have to stop the flow. I'm not just talking about the illegals; I am thinking first of legal immigration. ... There is a process of replacing the population from the moment there are too many immigrants who no longer assimilate. It's inevitable."[117]
A member of the Frenchassimilationist tradition, Zemmour has strongly opposed mass immigration, and the current model of integrating immigrants which he considers to have been too lenient, for a long time.[118] In November 2008, he gave an interview to the monthlyLe Choc du mois where he compared immigration to a "demographictsunami".[119] In 2007 he also came out in favour of theThierry Mariani amendment, which would require genetic tests in order to qualify forfamily reunification.[120]
At a public meeting in Lille in October 2021, Zemmour reiterated his position on migrants, calling for an end to illegal and legal immigration in France.[121]
Zemmour says he would like to put on trial the anti-racism of the 1980s,[122] which he considers, along with feminism, to be a "bien-pensant cause" derived from the "milieu of French and Western pseudo-elites" that the people will not follow in the least.[20] He says that it was especially after having "readPierre-André Taguieff" who is known for his positions and work on theNouvelle Droite andanti-racism that he "understood that anti-racist progressivism was the successor of communism, with the same totalitarian methods developed by theComintern during the 1930s".[123] According to him, anti-racism is a tactic initiated byFrançois Mitterrand to make people forget the left's turn toeconomic liberalism in 1983. He claims that anti-racism is an ideology implemented by former leftists who had had to give up their illusions. With immigrants, these people had found a kind of alternative revolutionary people.[20]
Zemmour has expressed criticism offeminism andhomosexuality, and has claimed that France's decline had partly been caused by the erosion ofvirility, and the "feminization" of society, themes he has explored at length inLe Premier Sexe andThe French Suicide.[111][124][125][126] Zemmour called the legalization ofabortion a "collective suicide"[126] and has argued that women were unsuited to positions of political power.[127] InThe French Suicide, he expressed criticism ofbirth control,women's rights, andgender studies.[128][112] He has also defendedDominique Strauss-Kahn andTariq Ramadan in relation to accusations of sexual assault levelled against them.[129][125]
Zemmour defends himself from such allegations, stating that he instead believes himself to be "the greatest defender of women".[130] In televised debates and during his presidential campaign he has often taken this position, arguing that he is the sole candidate to defend women from Islam, especially from the compulsion to wear veils under many modern interpretations ofSharia law.[131][132]
Zemmour's diagnosis of the current economic state of France precedes his positions on various economic issues, and in particular questions of fiscal policy and free trade. He says that France is "world champion in everything" in this regard, with 30% of GDP for social protection, 56% for public spending and 47% for compulsory contributions, such as direct taxes and various other social contributions.[133] He also says that France's budget massively helps foreigners and immigrants, who benefit for example from 42% of the social redistribution of the national Family Allowance Fund.[134] Zemmour declared in that regard that he will stop all kind of aid and subsidies to foreigners, and claims that this will bring 20 to 30 billion euros yearly savings to the French budget.[135]In particular, he also advocates abolishing state medical aid for foreigners,[136][137] which costs 1 billion euros per year to the state budget.[138] Zemmour has called the French state a "bureaucratic hell" and advocates administrative simplification.[139]
Rather anti-liberal with regards tofree trade, he opposesEuropean federalism[140] and theEuropean Union, which he considers to be clearly in favour of the free movement of goods and in deep conflict with the French social model. According to him, because of the European Union, the left, like the right, must apply "the same economic policy, social liberalism or liberal socialism"[141] because, in the words ofPhilippe Séguin, "right and left are retailers of the same wholesaler, Europe".[142] Zemmour supportsprotectionism.[143] He proposes the retirement age be raised to 64.[144][145]
Zemmour wants to lower corporate taxes.[146] He has proposed to reduce the CSG (general social contribution) from 9% to 2.5%, for employees who have a modest salary, from the minimum wage up to 2,000 euros. Eric Zemmour thus judges that this would make a salary increase of a monthly minimum wage over the year.[147][148] In order both not to reduce the social protection model of the French and to finance this tax cut, he wants "national solidarity to become national again", and has proposed that non-contributory social expenditure (family allowances, housing allowances, minimum old-age allowance, minimum living allowance) be withdrawn from foreigners and are reserved for the French. According to him, this represents 20 billion savings for the national budget.[147]
While Zemmour has advocated France dropping the Euro currency, he no longer supports this idea, which he believes would have more disadvantages than advantages at this stage. He rather prefers to concentrate on free trade issues, in order to stop free trade treaties, and introduce import taxes on strategic products where France needs to defend its national interest, local production, and social model.[149]
Zemmour has argued for a distancing of France from the United States, a closer relationship with Russia,[150] as well as an increased independence from theEuropean Union and its foreign policy. He has stated that theNormandy landings duringWorld War II had been a liberation, but also a "colonization", of France by the United States.[151] Zemmour has also called for a strengthening of theFrench Armed Forces, arguing that the only influence that France has retained on the international scene was due to the strength of its armed forces and itsnuclear defense capabilities.[151] He supports a withdrawal from theNATO's integrated military command.[152][153][154]
Zemmour supportedBrexit and Britain's vote to leave the European Union, describing the EU as a "pure technostructure that has got rid of the people," but has said that he would not seek to fully withdraw France from the EU if elected president, arguing that France's war record made it harder for the country to follow Britain's example. Instead, Zemmour has summed up his position as "I want France to be in Europe, but I want France to come before Europe," and pledged to withdraw France from the EU's immigration and asylum policies, put French law above EU law and halt accession talks with Eastern European countries aiming to join the bloc.[155][156]
In addition, Zemmour has expressed support forRattachism, the integration ofWallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, into France, pointing to a 2010 opinion poll in which 49 per cent of Walloons were ready for such a move.[157] He described Belgium as having become largely a fiction, and likened its separation from France to that ofEast Germany fromWest Germany, calling it "France's GDR".[158]
Zemmour condemned Russia's2022 invasion of Ukraine despite his previous pro-Russia stance.[159]
After theGaza war, Zemmour described the conflict as the "fight of our civilisation", called for a ban onHamas's parent organisation, theMuslim Brotherhood, in France, and visited Israel in solidarity.[160][161] Following theJune 2025 Israeli strikes on Iran, Zemmour opposed calls for a ceasefire and fully backed Israeli actions.[162]
The subjects Zemmour addresses, as well as the positions he defends, have earned him some strong opponents and equally strong supporters. According to an article by François Dufay,La fronde des intellos (literal translation: "The upheaval of the intellectuals"), in the June 2002 edition ofLe Point,Jean-Marie Le Pen reportedly said that "[the] only three journalists who behave properly with respect to [him]" areÉlisabeth Lévy, Éric Zemmour andSerge Moati.[165][failed verification] Zemmour noted during an interview: "I think he meant that with an ironic wink: it refers to his famous declaration fifteen years ago that caused such a scandal when he criticisedElkabbach,Levaï, who were all Jewish, and you will note that the three who he noted treat him well are also all Jewish. [...] And he knows that quite well, and everyone knows that quite well".[166]
Following a number of controversies after a talk show onArte dedicated to miscegenation on 13 November 2008, as a result of his comments on races (that blacks and whites belonged to two differentraces and that this difference was discernible by skin colour, without ranking them hierarchically), Zemmour also published a reply in the magazineVendredi.[167]Faced with the criticism caused by the views expressed by Éric Zemmour during the show, the deputy manager of programmes for theArte channel distanced himself from these words but explained that nothing said was illegal.[d]
On 25 March 2009, he filed a complaint against the FrenchrapperYoussoupha for "criminal threats and public abuse" after the uploading of the song "Because of saying it" in which Zemmour was attackedad hominem: "Because of judging our faces, people know, that talking heads often demonise the ghetto-dwellers, each time it blows up they say it's us, I put a price on the head of the one who silences this asshole Éric Zemmour".[169] The rapper had clarified in a previous interview in the newspaperLe Parisien that he was not advocating silencing Zemmour by force, but rather by argument.[e] The album was finally released on 12 October 2009, with an expurgated version of the controversial track in which Zemmour's name is scrambled out. On 26 October 2011, Zemmour won his suit against the rapper and the director general ofEMI Music France, Valérie Queinnec.[171]
On 5 March 2011, some voices were raised against Zemmour and called forRémy Pflimlin, the CEO ofFrance Télévisions, to suspend Zemmour's collaboration withFrance 2,[f] which he refused to do, explaining: ""The public service is attached to humanist and republican values, but it is also the place where the diversity of opinions is expressed within the legal framework", he reminds those around him urging him to suspend Éric Zemmour's collaboration withFrance 2".[174]
On 17 November 2015, four days after the13 November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, Zemmour stated on RTL: "Instead of bombingRaqqa, France should bombMolenbeek from which the Friday 13 commandos came". This caused outrage in Belgium.[175] In a 24 March 2016 column, Zemmour added: "Molenbeeks, France is full of them. France creates them in abundance".[176]
On 18 September 2018, controversy arose over his opinion about the first name of columnist Hapsatou Sy on the TV programmeLes terriens du dimanche hosted byThierry Ardisson. His words "It's your first name that is an insult to France", adding "first names embody the history of France" were cut at the editing of the show but rebroadcast by Sy. She then asked him "What would you like my name to be?" to which he answered "Corinne, that would suit you very well". She decided to file a complaint against Zemmour.[177]
In 2020, whilst commenting on footage that showed four policemen hitting a black man in Paris, Zemmour responded to accusations of racism levelled at the involved policemen by saying "I can hardly see [them] getting up in the morning and telling themselves: 'Here, I'm going to endanger my career and I'm going to hit a black guy'", although he recognised "that does not mean that they were right" to do what they did. He also questioned the victim's judicial history.[178]
In September 2021, in his bookLa France n'a pas dit son dernier mot, Zemmour statesSeine-Saint-Denis—the northern suburbs of Paris known for their large Muslim population—has become a "foreign enclave under the reign ofAllah", a remark which angered local politicians.[179]
Zemmour generated controversy by claiming that "Vichy [France] protected French Jews and gave the foreign Jews [to the Nazis]" in an interview withCNews. His statements in the interview polarized the French Jewish community, and were criticized by many Jewish leaders and intellectuals.[181] In response to Zemmour's comment, the chief rabbi of France,Haïm Korsia, called Zemmour an antisemite and a racist.[182][183]
In February 2022, "WikiZedia" team (Wikipedia +Zemmour) which is a shadow group working covertly within the digital division of Zemmour's campaign team was organized to alter articles atFrench Wikipedia in order to promote his profile. The team attempted to repeatedly rewrite Zemmour's Wikipedia article, made him "as visible as possible" by inserting links and quotations from him on other articles, and engaged inhistorical negationism to promote Zemmour's discredited assertion that theVichy government had tried to rescue French Jews from the Nazis.[185]
After they were discovered, and Zemmour's director of digital strategy confirmed his team's efforts, administrators at French Wikipedia banned seven editors at 13:25 on 17 February 2022, including User:Cheep who joined on 31 December 2006 and was banned from English Wikipedia at 20:08 on 19 February 2022. They were consequentlyglobally banned fromWikimedia Foundation at 17:28 on 1 June 2022.[186][187][185]
TheInternational League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) decided to launch legal proceedings against Éric Zemmour for his views after the 6 March 2010 broadcast ofSalut les Terriens presented byThierry Ardisson, where he promoted his bookMélancolie française. He declared during the show that: "French people with an immigrant background were profiled because most traffickers are Blacks and Arabs. ... It is a fact."[190] The same day, he asserted onFrance Ô that employers "had the right to refuse Arabs or blacks".[5][h]On 23 March 2010, he wrote a letter to the LICRA explaining his views. In this letter he particularly observed the views of Christian Delorme before a parliamentary commission of theSenate.[196] He cited the bookL'Islam dans les prisons by Farhad Khosrokhavar, who confirmed the figure of 70 or 80% of "Muslims in prison" estimated in a survey commissioned by theMinistry of Justice.[197]Following this letter, theInternational League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) decided to withdraw its legal proceedings against Éric Zemmour.[196]
On 30 March 2010, Éric Zemmour was summoned bySOS Racisme to appear in court on 29 June 2010,[198] where he "will have to answer for the offense of racial defamation and incitement to racial hatred."[199][i] During the trial, Zemmour received testimony in his favour from journalistRobert Ménard, his fellow columnistÉric Naulleau, writerDenis Tillinac, politicianClaude Goasguen and essayistXavier Raufer.
On 18 February 2011, in a first judgment, the 17th chamber of the court of Paris acquitted Zemmour of the offense of defamation for the remarks on the traffickers. These words may be "shocking", writes the court, but they are not "defamatory". On the other hand, he was condemned to a 1,000 euros fine suspended for having, on France Ô, "justified an illegal discriminatory practice – discrimination in hiring – by presenting it as lawful".[j][5] In a second judgment, the 17th chamber only retained the offense of incitement of racial discrimination and sentenced Zemmour to a suspended fine of 1,000 euros.[k][5]
In the 6 September 2016 episode of the programmeC à vous onFrance 5, while promoting the launch of his bookUn quinquennat pour rien, Zemmour stated thatMuslims should be given the choice "between Islam and France" and that "all Muslims, whether they say it or not", considerjihadists to be "good Muslims".[203] On the 3 May 2018, theCourt of appeal reckoned that these passages do not contain "any exhortation, even implicit, to incitement of hatred". On the other hand, the court of law did condemn him to a 5,000 euro fine for incitement to religious hatred, as well as to pay one euro in damages to the association Coordination des appels pour une paix juste au Proche-Orient - EuroPalestine and 3,000 euros for the legal costs. The court considered Zemmour's statements to "aim at Muslims in their entirety and constituted an implicit exhortation to discrimination", when he claimed that France had been experiencing "an invasion for thirty years" and that a "struggle to Islamise a territory" was taking place "in the countless Frenchbanlieus where many young women are veiled", "a jihad".[204]
On 17 September 2019, theCour de cassation, bringing against him the charges of "an implicit exhortation to discrimination" and "a call for discrimination", rejected his appeal, making his condamnation on appeal definitive in domestic law.[205]
However, on 5 December 2019, Zemmour complained to theEuropean Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the basis of article 10 of theEuropean Convention on Human Rights which protectsfreedom of expression.[206][207] His appeal was subsequently rejected by the ECHR in December 2022. In its ruling the court said that Zemmour had "duties and responsibilities" as a journalist and was aware of the scope and consequences of his words on a television program. It also said that he sought to "stoke a rift between the French and the Muslim community as a whole,"
On 17 January 2022, Zemmour was found guilty by a Paris court for inciting racial hatred during a TV programme on the French channelCNews in September 2020. He was fined €10,000 for comments about child migrants.[208]
In 2008, following the publication of his novelPetit Frère, in which a Jew is attacked by a young North African in a parking lot, Zemmour admits to having been inspired by a news item that occurred five years earlier: the murder of Sébastien Selam by Adel Amastaibou. Selam was a childhood friend and next door neighbour of Amastaibou.[209][210] Zemmour was sued by the family of Selam who demanded the book be banned. According to the family lawyer, in the novel, the victim is described as a "bad Jew, his mother defamed and his grandfather accused of the worst evils". Zemmour won the case.[211]
TheRepresentative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) filed a complaint with theSuperior Audiovisual Council (CSA) about a column by Zemmour aired on 6 May 2014 on RTL. As a result, CSA "strongly warned" RTL on 17 June, judging that Zemmour's remarks "were likely to encourage discriminatory behavior towards the population groups specifically named, and to be capable of inciting hatred or violence against them".[212] The comments by Zemmour that were the subject of the complaint were these:
Our territory, deprived of the protection of its ancient frontiers, is now seeing a revival in the cities, but also in the countryside, of the great raids and pillaging of the past. The Normans, the Huns, the Arabs, the great invasions after the fall of Rome have now been replaced by bands of Chechens, Roma, Kosovars, Maghrebis, Africans, who rob, assault, or steal.[l]
— Eric Zemmour, via RTL
The CSA also considered that RTL, "by allowing the broadcasting of these remarks, had failed in their obligation to maintain control of the broadcast", recalling that the column had been communicated to station managers beforehand by its author.[214] Prosecuted for "incitement to racial hatred" for these comments, Zemmour was released in September 2015 by theCorrectional tribunal [fr][m] in Paris, which ruled that "as excessive, shocking or provocative as these comments may seem", they apply "only to a fraction of the targeted communities and not to them as a whole". The Court of Appeal confirmed the acquittal on 22 June 2016.[216]
On 30 October 2014, he told the Italian newspaperCorriere della Sera: "Muslims have their civil code, it is the Koran. They live among themselves, in the outskirts. The French were forced to leave".[217] The journalist then asks him: "But don't you think that it is unrealistic to think that we take millions of people, we put them on planes to get rid of them?"[218] Zemmour replied, "I know, it's unrealistic, but the story is surprising. Who would have said in 1940 that a millionpieds-noirs, twenty years later, would have left Algeria to return to France? Or that after the war five or six millionGermans would have abandoned central and eastern Europe where they had lived for centuries?" On 17 December 2015, Zemmour was sentenced at first instance to a fine of €3,000, for inciting hatred against Muslims.[219] The conviction was confirmed by the Paris Court of Appeal on 17 November.[220] In January 2018, the Cour de Cassation overturned the conviction. Zemmour was released on 29 November 2018, by the Paris Court of Appeal, the judges considering that "it is not proven that Eric Zemmour, prosecuted as an interviewee, knew that this newspaper was published in France".[221]
On 12 May 2016, Zemmour declared on RTL that by publishingDenis Baupin's telephone exchanges, "Mediapart violated all the rules of respect for private life" and that these journalists are "also and above all the consenting instruments ofCécile Duflot's political revenge againstEmmanuelle Cosse, Denis Baupin's companion, who betrayed her for a ministerial dish of lentils". Zemmour was sued fordefamation by Duflot, but on 6 February 2018, the Paris Criminal Court released him, finding that his allegations against Cécile Duflot were not defamatory.[222]
2017: Sanctions imposed by media watchdog agency canceled
On 2 February 2017, Zemmour declared on RTL: "Non-discrimination is misrepresented as a synonym of equality whereas over time it has become a machine to disintegrate the Nation, the family, society in the name of the rights of an individual king". On 14 June 2017, RTL was put on formal notice by theHigh Audiovisual Council (CSA), France's media watchdog agency, for having broadcast "praise of discrimination" without any "contradiction or putting into perspective". On 15 October 2018, theConseil d'Etat cancelled the decision of the CSA.[223]
On 25 September 2020, the Paris court sentenced Zemmour to a fine of 10,000 euros for "insult and incitement to hatred", because of the comments he had made in September 2019 during a speech to the against Muslims and immigration, at the opening of the right-wing convention organised by relatives ofMarion Maréchal. In its judgment, the court said that, "by distinguishing among the French all the Muslims opposed to the 'ethnic French' and by designating them, as well as the Muslim immigrants living in France, not only as criminals perpetrators of the terrorist attacks of 2015 but like former colonized people who became colonizers", the remarks made "constitute an exhortation, sometimes implicit and sometimes explicit, to discrimination and hatred towards the Muslim community and its religion".[n][224]
Zemmour appealed. The appeal hearing took place on 2 June 2021. The Paris Court of Appeal acquitted him on 8 September 2021. In the reasons for its judgment, the court of appeal ruled that "none of the statements pursued target all Africans, immigrants or Muslims but only fractions of these groups". "There is no justification for remarks targeting a group of people as a whole because of their origin or their belonging or not belonging to a particular ethnicity, nation, race or religion," the court added, "from where it follows that the prosecuted offenses are not constituted."[225][226]The general prosecutor's office has filed a cassation appeal, which is pending.[227]
^abMany French media outlets present him "on the right", on the "conservative right", as "Gaullist", on the "sovereignist right", on the "radical right", or on the "radical and identitary right".
^Between 2010 and 2013, Zemmour was reassigned toLe Figaro Magazine. Some sources say the move was caused by an insufficient production in comparison to his salary,[3][4] while other sources contend that the move followed his conviction for incitement toracial discrimination and fine of €2,000.[5][6]
^ "I did not think he would express himself in such a clumsy way! Our channel, of course, is not associated with Zemmour's views. We checked with our legal services to see if these statements fell within the scope of the law. This does not seem to be the case. The important thing is that these words were disputed on set.... we will think twice before inviting him again!"[168]
^"Silencing, it means putting him in his place. (...) The words do not refer to murder, or aggression, or injuries... I did not want to either have him killed or to deprive him of his freedom of expression. Silencing, it means to put him in his place, to expose him to his own contradictions".[170]
^"The family ofMohammed Merah asked to bury him on the land of his ancestors in Algeria. It was also known that the Jewish children murdered in front of the denominational school in Toulouse would be buried in Israel. Anthropologists have taught us that we are from the country where we are buried. Assassins or innocents, executioners or victims, enemies or friends, they wanted to live in France, (...) but when it comes to leaving their bones, they especially did not choose France, foreigners above all".
^Meanwhile, these views and the trial were given international scope by an article devoted to them and to Zemmour inThe New York Times in February 2011.[10]
^Moreover, in addition to the fine, the first judgment sentenced him to pay €1,000 in damages and interest and €2,000 in legal costs to each of the three organisations (totalling €9,000) and the second sentenced him to pay one euro to each of the civil parties and €750 in legal costs (totalling €1,502)
^He must also pay 1 euro to each of the civil parties, plus 750 euros in legal costs, for a total of 1,502 euros. The two judgments will finally have to be published in the press.
^Notre territoire, privé de la protection de ses anciennes frontières, renoue dans les villes, mais aussi dans les campagnes, avec les grandes razzias, les pillages d'autrefois. Les Normands, les Huns, les Arabes, les grandes invasions d'après la chute de Rome sont désormais remplacées par des bandes de Tchétchènes, de Roms, de Kosovars, de Maghrébins, d'Africains, qui dévalisent, violentent ou dépouillent.[213]
^In France, the correctional tribunal is a specialized chamber of the judicial court ruling infirst instance (as a lower court) in criminal matters on offences defined as felonies (Délit pénal) and for which the prison sentence may not exceed ten years.[215]
^Éric Zemmour was also ordered to pay one euro in damages and 1,500 euros for legal costs to eight civil party associations, including the Human Rights League (LDH) and SOS Racisme.
^(in French)Éric Zemmour: "I am not asking for the francization of surnames"Archived 27 February 2011 at theWayback Machine, Article inL'Express by Laurent Martinet, published on 11 March 2010: "I was born in Montreuil in Seine-Saint-Denis. I am therefore not an immigrant ... and my parents were French. But my origins are indeed Berber and my name does indeed mean 'olive tree' inBerber."
^abMonnier, Vincent (7 February 2008). "Éric Zemmour: passé recomposé" [Eric Zemmour: past perfect-ed (play on words)].Le Nouvel Observateur (in French).
^Klein, Klara (10 June 2006). "Le mâle être" [The Male Being/Malaise (play on words)].Le Soir (in French).
^"Éric Zemmour chez Ruth Elkrief" [Éric Zemmour with Ruth Elkrief]. 28 September 2021.Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved3 October 2021 – via YouTube.
Albertini, Dominique (18 January 2018)."Eric Zemmour : une radicalité qui recentre Marine Le Pen" [Eric Zemmour: a radicalism that refocuses (? re-centres?) Marine Le Pen].Libération (in French).Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved27 August 2021.According toLibération, Zemmour is positioned on a political segment of an extreme right more radical than the National Rally, with a speech "underpinned by the ethnic referent and the fantasy of a "great re-embarkation" of immigrants, and all or part of their descendants
^"La popularité de Zemmour et Le Pen" [The popularity of Zemmour and Le Pen].tf1.fr (in French). 4 October 2021.Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved9 October 2021.
^Recurring themes onÇa se dispute and in his editorials inLe Figaro; set forth in particular during his interview withFrançois Bayrou inOn n'est pas couché [We've not gone to bed] on 1 December 2007.
^Interview with François Bayrou on the TV showOn n'est pas couché on 1 December 2007.
^Malle, Victor (13 September 2021)."Eric Zemmour, France's Buchanan".theamericanconservative.com.Archived from the original on 13 October 2021. Retrieved13 October 2021.
^Dufay, François (7 June 2002). "La fronde des intellos" [Revolt of the intellectuals].Le Point (in French).
^Le Bohec, Jacques (2004). L'Harmattan (ed.).L'implication des journalistes dans le phénomène Le Pen [Journalists implicated in the Le Pen phenomenon] (in French). L'Harmattan. p. 103.ISBN978-2-7475-7020-6.
^Pixels (21 February 2022)."Page Wikipédia d'Eric Zemmour : l'encyclopédie en ligne répond aux " tentatives de manipulation "" [The online encyclopedia responds to "attempts at manipulation"].Le Monde. Retrieved22 February 2022.Sept comptes de contributeurs qui participaient à cette opération, qualifiée par l'encyclopédie de « tentative de manipulation », ont été bannis indéfinifment de la plate-forme. [Seven accounts of contributors who participated in this operation, described by the encyclopedia as "attempted manipulation", have been banned indefinitely from the platform.]
^The editors ofL'Express commented that Khosrokhavar estimated the share of Muslim prisoners in certain prisons near so-called sensitive districts as between 50% and 80% and that there were no official national statistics on the subject."Eric Zemmour: "Je ne demande pas la francisation des noms"" [I'm not asking for the francization of names.].LExpress.fr. 11 March 2010.Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved6 February 2019.
^The trial was postponed but the court to 11, 13 and 14 January 2011 due to a number of civil action filings, among which were a number of anti-racist organisations.« Le procès Zemmour renvoyé au mois de janvier » [Zemmour case postponed till January]Archived 22 April 2012 at theWayback Machine on the website FranceAntilles.fr
^Veron, Michel (3 March 2011)."Zemmour expose sa liberté d'expression à l'UMP" [Zemmour exercises his freedom of expression at the UMP].L'Express (in French).Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved9 October 2021.
^Beaulieu, Cécile (14 January 2008)."Le roman d'Eric Zemmour attaqué" [Eric Zemmour's novel attacked].leparisien.fr.Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved3 October 2021.
^Figaro, Madame (18 September 2014)."Trois questions à Eric Zemmour" [Three Questions for Eric Zemmour].Madame Figaro.Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved3 October 2021.
^Montefiori, Stefano (31 October 2014)."Zemmour e la rabbia anti-élite" [Zemmour and anti-elite rage] (in Italian).Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved3 October 2021.
^"La polémique Zemmour en six actes" [The Zemmour controversy in six acts].Franceinfo (in French). 18 December 2014.Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved3 October 2021.
Chems-Eddine Hafiz,De quoi Zemmour est devenu le nom, Éditions du Moment, Paris, 2010, page 128ISBN978-2354171070
Mahrane, Saïd (27 January 2011)."Eric Zemmour, nouveau gourou" [Eric Zemmour, new guru].Le Point (in French).Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved9 October 2021.
Sand, Shlomo (2018).The End of the French Intellectual: From Zola to Houellebecq. Verso.ISBN978-1786635082. a critique of three French intellectuals, including Zemmour.
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