Can Marine Le Pen possibly still run in the presidential elections in spring 2027? Or does she have to leave the place to her “heir to the throne” Jordan Bardella? The Paris Court of Appeal is currently deciding on this. The trial is scheduled to end on February 12th and the verdict is expected several weeks later.
In the appeal process against the parliamentary group leader of National Rally (RN) The public prosecutor’s office has now demanded four years in prison – three of which are on probation – and a five-year ban on running for public office. The public prosecutor’s office is also demanding a fine of 100,000 euros. The accusation against her and her ten co-defendants: embezzlement of European Parliament funds.
A criminal complaint is not a verdict, but the criminal complaint often gives an impression of how the public prosecutor’s office assesses the course of the trial and what result it therefore expects. In fact, the defendants were unable to refute the allegations during the negotiations. The prosecution believes it has been proven that under Marine Le Pen’s leadership Around 3 million euros, which were supposed to be used to pay parliamentary assistants, were improperly used to finance the RN party. The RN chairwoman is accused of not only knowing and tolerating this “system”, but also of organizing it.
Le Pen and others of the defendants have claimed in vain that they were unaware that these were illegal violations. Prosecutor Stéphane Madoz-Blanchot said angrily: “You don’t have to be an expert to understand that the public funds used to pay parliamentary staff are not there to finance the activities of a party.”
Misappropriation of funds “systematically”
During the trial, the prosecution also rejected the defense’s attempt to view the embezzlements as unfortunate isolated cases. On the contrary, it is a “system”: Marine Le Pen signed the employment contracts herself, and since she is a qualified lawyer, she cannot say that she knew nothing about everything. “The intent is obvious.”
This means that Marine Le Pen’s already small hope that the difference will largely disappear to the first instance the judges of the appeal court believe their protestations of innocence. At the beginning of the appeal hearing she had changed her defense strategy. Instead of attacking the judiciary for alleged political bias, it showed more restraint. She tried to claim that there was no intention to divert the EU funds in question improperly or even fraudulently.
Marine Le Pen did not want to comment on the prosecution’s criminal charges. Next, the defense attorneys will make their arguments. The last day of the trial is scheduled for February 12th. The verdict is not expected until several weeks later. The judges can orientate themselves on the criminal complaint, but do not have to follow it. If they only gave Le Pen a symbolically small suspended prison sentence and limited the ban on standing for election to less than two years, the RN leader would still have a tiny chance of still being able to run in the presidential elections.
Theoretically, Le Pen can still appeal to the highest appeal court after the verdict is announced. In principle, this does not deal with the matter, but rather checks for procedural errors. However, she had already made it clear that she did not want to do this. If it is blocked, 30-year-old party leader Jordan Bardella will run as the RN’s presidential candidate.
Le Pen left the courtroom on Tuesday evening without taking questions from journalists. RN MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy remained convinced on Wednesday that Le Pen and his co-defendants could prove their innocence. The prosecutor’s demands were “not surprising,” he explained. “Now it’s the defense’s turn,” he added.