France Court to rule on Le Pen's appeal by summer 2026
The Paris Court of Appeal wants to rule on the appeal by right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen against her conviction for embezzlement of public funds by summer 2026. In the event of a favorable decision for the politician, nothing would stand in the way of her candidacy in the 2027 presidential election, contrary to her initial fears.
01.04.2025, 21:40
SDA
The court announced in the evening that three appeals had been lodged against the verdict against Le Pen, her party Rassemblement National and other party leaders for embezzling EU funds. The court will examine the appeals "within a period that should allow a decision in the summer of 2026", it added.
The most heavily criticized part of the penalty against Le Pen was that the leader of the right-wing Rassemblement National (RN) parliamentary group will not be allowed to stand in elections for five years. The sentence comes into effect immediately - unlike a suspended prison sentence.
In view of the usually long duration of an appeal process, Le Pen had initially feared that she would not be able to run in the 2027 presidential election as planned. She and her party had spoken of a political sentence with the aim of eliminating her for the election.
