Marine Le Pen, the far right leader of France and the leading candidate to become the country’s next president, has been barred from running for five years from office after she and her party were convicted of embezzling millions of euros of European Union funds.
Le Pen, an anti-immigrant populist politician, has also been sentenced to four years in prison. He was suspended for two years and was able to serve under house arrest for two years. She consistently denied misconduct and sued the verdict.
But rulings against Le Pen and her party’s national rally threaten to ruin plans to run for presidency in 2027. After taking over her father as the far right leader of France, she has spent years trying to soften the image of the party and move it into the mainstream by denialing its anti-Semitic roots.
Who is Marine Le Pen?
Le Pen, 56, is an anti-immigrant and nationalist politician who became far away in France shortly after he took over the party from his father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011.
Le Pen attempted to detoxify the political movement he had built by softening some of his policies, changing the party’s name from the National Front to a national assembly, and publicly refusing his father’s anti-Semitism.
But even if things change, Le Pen’s platform is still robust and difficult. Her policies include using serious measures to curb immigration and promoting French-born citizens to have more rights to social interests and other areas of state support.
Le Pen has run three times to the best offices in the country. Although she hasn’t won yet, she has managed to steadily increase her vote share and expand the party’s reach. In her final presidential election in 2022, she won 41.5% of the vote, up from 33.9% of the election five years ago.
Last year, the national rally became the first Parliament to become the largest single party in the House of Representatives of the Capitol.
What was the price?
The French Criminal Court held that Le Pen had played a “central role” in illegal schemes by the party to use nearly $5 million worth of the European Parliament’s fees between 2004 and 2016.
The court has determined that the party will use European Parliament funds to pay assistants to front members across the country for work unrelated to EU businesses. The judge rejected Le Pen’s claim that it is appropriate for assistants to do party-related work.
Presiding judge Benedictine de Perteis called the ban a ban on the severity of the charges and the fact that the accused seemed unwilling to admit the facts. The court “should ensure that elected officials, like all citizens, do not benefit from favorable treatment,” she said.
Le Pen calls the incident a political witch hunt.
What’s next for Le Pen and her party?
Le Pen left the court before the full verdict was read out and she didn’t speak to reporters when she left. She is scheduled to speak on French television later Monday.
The court’s ruling will not strip her of her seat in the National Assembly, but Le Pen can only run for president in 2027 if he secures a more favorable ruling on appeal before the deadline to enter the race. But even successful charms can take time.
The court also ruled that the national assembly had to pay a fine of 2 million euros, half of which would be suspended. 23 other people have been convicted of charges related to a scheme to embezzle European Parliament funds.
However, the ruling does not prohibit Le Pen’s 29-year-old protégé Jordan Bardera from running for president in her absence. He is considered a major alternative candidate.
Where does this leave France?
The ruling was able to rekindle the political turmoil that has been shaking France last year after President Emmanuel Macron called for a snap election last year. The French government was unpopular and had a hard time passing the budget this year. It could be overthrown by lawmakers in the Diet.
Le Pen and the national rallies could also portray verdicts as a threat to popular politicians, the party, and to French democracy itself.
