FILE - French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, center, flanked by his daughter Marine Le Pen, and Bruno Gollnisch, arrives for a wreath-laying ceremony at the statue of Joan of Arc, within the party’s traditional May Day march Saturday May 1, 2010, in Paris. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File)

Controversy was Le Pen's constant companion: accusations of racism and antisemitism dogged the National Front from when he co-founded the party.

History will judge” the legacy of far-Right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president’s comments came as he and his government avoided any outright criticism of the late firebrand following his death on Tuesday aged 96.