France Le Pen found guilty of embezzling EU funds
The right-wing nationalist French politician Marine Le Pen has been found guilty in the affair surrounding the possible bogus employment of staff in the European Parliament. The court in Paris planned to announce the sentence afterwards. The verdict will determine whether or not the right-wing populist politician can run in the 2027 presidential election.
31.03.2025, 11:37
SDA
It is expected that Le Pen will appeal against the ruling. It is likely to be a long journey through the courts.
The court could impose a five-year ban on Le Pen's right to stand for election, which would temporarily prevent her from being elected to public office. The court could also order the immediate effect of this penalty regardless of the expected appeal. This would block Le Pen's planned candidacy for the presidency. However, the court could also impose this penalty but only allow it to take effect later, i.e. after a final judgment.
Le Pen is expected to appeal
"It is my political death that is being demanded with provisional execution, and that is, I believe, the aim of this operation from the outset," Le Pen had said in response to the prosecution's demand that she be immediately barred from running for political office.
Until the end of the election period, Le Pen can in any case continue to sit as a member of parliament, where she is group leader.
The central allegation in the trial was that Le Pen's Rassemblement National party had received money from the European Parliament for parliamentary assistants who had worked for the party in part or in full. The affair had been weighing on Le Pen and her party for years.
Rassemblement National stronger than ever
The debacle in court has hit the right-wing nationalist party in France at an unfavorable moment. It has been steadily gaining ground for some time and is now more strongly represented in parliament than ever before. The far-right Front National, founded by her recently deceased father Jean-Marie, renamed Marine Le Pen Rassemblement National in 2018 and renounced overly radical positions in order to make the party electable for broader sections of the population.
Le Pen has always rejected accusations
Le Pen has always rejected the accusations against her. "I do not feel that I have committed the slightest irregularity, the slightest illegality," she said during the trial.
Along with her, eight other members of her party in the European Parliament were found guilty, as well as 12 parliamentary assistants. At issue was the possible fictitious employment of assistants by several French MEPs.
