PARIS (AP) — France's Jean-Marie Le Pen risks suspension or exclusion from the far-right National Front he helped found more than four decades ago as his daughter, the party president, begins a new effort to oust him.

The family feud opens a new chapter Thursday when the elder Le Pen is to appear before the party's eight-member executive bureau to defend himself against 15 complaints. The complaints target recent public statements by Le Pen in which he downplayed Nazi gas chambers and insulted his daughter.

Le Pen, 87, was summoned by daughter Marine Le Pen, who has said she will not be present at the high-stakes meeting.

Marine Le Pen, her sights on France's 2017 presidential race, has worked to clean up the image of the anti-immigrant party.