French judges alarmed by rumors of US sanctioning magistrates who sentenced Le Pen
www.lemonde.fr
Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban, the president of the Paris judicial court, spoke out to condemn what he called 'unacceptable interference.' His remarks followed revelations in the German press about the possibility that the United States might sanction the French judges who sentenced Marine Le Pen.

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The Trump administration is considering sanctions against three French magistrates, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel, causing concern within the French judiciary. The judges in question sentenced Marine Le Pen on March 31, 2025, to four years in prison, including two mandatory years, and five years of ineligibility for embezzlement of public funds.

On December 30, 2025, the weekly publication reported on its website anonymous accounts from former US administration officials who said that Washington intends to sanction European magistrates and officials suspected of targeting the far right in France or in Germany. Der Spiegel explicitly cited the case of the three French judges.

“If such claims were proven true or were to materialize,” declared Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban, the president of the Paris judicial court, on January 6 during a session welcoming new magistrates, “they would constitute unacceptable and intolerable interference in our country’s internal affairs, which should provoke condemnation from the public authorities.”

  • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    113·
    3 days ago

    We’re not even talking about building our own alternatives to Visa and MasterCard yet. Everyone keeps talking about Wero which seems more like a replacement for SEPA instant payments.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        11·
        3 days ago

        So even less useful then? Nobody needs PayPal when you have SEPA already. Unless you need to send money to outside of the SEPA coverage area, in which case I don’t think Wero will help much because it has an even smaller coverage area than SEPA.

        It’s MasterCard and Visa that need a real replacement. I can’t pay in a shop using the money in my bank account without the US being involved. Only cash allows for that right now.

        • MrMakabar@slrpnk.netEnglish
          4·
          3 days ago

          A lot of countries have local debit cards, which work for local shops and allow you to withdraw money. For France that would be Carte Bancaire (CB) for example. The obvious solution would be to link all of them up. Preferably with a common standard to be issued with new cards. There are co branded ones with Visa and MasterCard, so it should be possible.

          • Suriel@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            2 days ago

            Yup. In Poland we have Blik, and can use a code to pay in physical stores and webstores. We can also use it to transfer money directly to a phone number linked to bank account. Only contact less payments use Visa/Mastercard

          • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            1·
            2 days ago

            The obvious solution would be to link all of them up. Preferably with a common standard to be issued with new cards

            You’ve already made more progress here than the EU.

            My country doesn’t have a local debit card. It doesn’t need one either because the population is a million and change, but an European alternative that could also be used in, at the very least, other European countries, would be awesome. And if common tourist destinations outside of Europe also start accepting this fictional new European payment card network, I think 99% of Europeans would no longer need a Visa or Mastercard.

    • Tja@programming.devEnglish
      5·
      3 days ago

      I’d suggest you spend 5 minutes learning about wero, then.

      We also have other payment systems, like the EC cards in Germany.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        Okay, so how do I actually use a Wero card in a physical store? And without an American controlled phone OS, since right now all of Wero lives in the banks’ apps and there’s no actual card?

        We also have other payment systems, like the EC cards in Germany.

        Never heard of it, so it won’t work in my country. Visa and Mastercard only. Those are the only ones that are truly EU-wide.

        • Tja@programming.devEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          Okay, so how do I actually use a Wero card in a physical store

          You can’t, yet. However, the original claim was…

          We’re not even talking about building our own alternatives

          Which is not true. We are talking about it, even working on it. Needs a few years, tho.

          • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            11·
            2 days ago

            Last I heard there’s still no talk of a Wero solution that works without a phone though. No card, only apps and those only run on American-approved phones.

            • Renohren@lemmy.todayEnglish
              2·
              2 days ago

              About the “only run on American approved phones”: not really. They work on most phones (and the number of degoogled OS is growing) and banking apps not using NFC often DO work on those phones. You only need to lock the bootloader, not root and use microg. A few companies now sell refurbished (or even new) phones equipped this way so your average non-techie can buy a geopolitically agnostic phone.

              • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
                1·
                2 days ago

                Many banking apps require play services too unfortunately. You’d then have to switch banks based on who doesn’t.

                Also how do you make NFC payments without NFC? Or more generally, with no NFC and no card, how do you pay IRL?

                  • boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
                    1·
                    2 days ago

                    What do I do with a QR code if I don’t want a smartphone? Or if my battery is empty?

                    I can see way too many negatives compared to having a physical card. And as of now there’s no talk of a wero card. The only EU wide alternative to Visa and MasterCard right now is cash which isn’t always the best option either.