French court bars far-right leader Le Pen from public office

A French court has imposed a jail sentence on far-right leader Marine Le Pen and barred her from seeking public office after it found her guilty of embezzling European Union funds.

The Paris court ruled that Le Pen used more than 3 million euros ($3.3m) of European Parliament funds to pay members of her National Rally (RN) party.

In the sentencing, the chief judge announced that the nationalist politician would not be allowed to run for office for five years, effective immediately. A four-year jail sentence was also imposed, with two years suspended and the remaining two to be served using an electronic tag rather than in custody.
She was also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros ($108,000), while RN was issued with a 2-million euros ($2.16m) fine.

“The court took into consideration, in addition to the risk of reoffending, the major disturbance of public order if a person already convicted … was a candidate in the presidential election,” said presiding judge Benedicte de Perthuis.

The ruling threatens to push Le Pen out of the 2027 presidential race, in which she is currently the frontrunner, according to opinion polls.

The nationalist leader had accused prosecutors of seeking her “political death”. She is expected to appeal the ruling, setting the stage for a potentially lengthy legal battle.
She strode out of the court before the end of the sentencing and was driven away.

New far-right face?

“If Marine Le Pen can’t run, that would change the landscape of the French far right and its prospects,” said Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler from the Paris court. “Most likely it would be Jordan Bardella to take her place, the current president of RN.

“But he is much younger and not the same kind of dominant force as Marine Le Pen,” she added. “He’s not the figure that so many in France know, and so some say he would likely find it tougher in the 2027 race.

“Others say a fresh face may be what’s needed.”

Guilty verdicts were also handed down against eight other members of RN who served as legislators in the European Parliament when the funds were diverted, as well as 12 parliamentary assistants.

Reaction from nationalists in support of the RN leader was swift.

Bardella said French democracy had been “executed” with the “unjust” verdict.

“Today it is not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly condemned: It was French democracy that was killed,” he decided.

‘Democratic norms’

Le Pen’s radical-right rival Eric Zemmour slammed the sentence and insisted that the RN leader has the right to present herself to the electorate.

The Kremlin also criticised the decision, despite Moscow’s common demand that other countries should not interfere in its internal affairs.

“More and more European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who fashions himself as a leader of “patriotic” EU states, offered Le Pen support, posting on X: “Je suis Marine!” (“I am Marine.”)

Italy’s far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini appeared to have confused his geography as he labelled the verdict “a declaration of war by Brussels”.

“I trust she will win the appeal and become president of France,” said Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders.

However, MEP Daniel Freund, who chairs the anti-corruption working group in the European Parliament, noted that the case against Le Pen was the largest fraud case in the history of the European Parliament.

“The French judiciary shows that the rule of law applies to everyone, regardless of polling numbers,” he stated.