US EditionMarine Le Pen faces crucial Paris appeals trial over misuse of EU funds
Marine Le Pen challenges a €2.9 million European Parliament fund misuse conviction, risking a five-year election ban that could affect France’s 2027 presidential race.
- This past week Marine Le Pen returned to court at the Paris Court of Appeal to answer judges' questions in the five-week appeals trial.
- The case centres on misuse of European Parliament funds allocated for parliamentary assistants and names the National Rally and 11 National Rally officials accused, prosecutors say party staff were paid with EU parliamentary assistant funds under a structured scheme lasting more than a decade.
- The March ruling found that investigators identified that EU funds paid for Le Pen's personal assistant, bodyguard, and a graphic designer, affecting party staff involved.
- Convicted last year, Marine Le Pen faces penalties including a five-year ban, two years house arrest with electronic monitoring, and a two-year suspended sentence; if ruled ineligible, she named Jordan Bardella as successor.
- The appeals outcome could determine whether Le Pen can run in the presidential race and reshape France's political landscape, as the court noted harm to citizens' trust and European Parliament interests.
52 Articles
52 Articles
Michael Strempel, ARD Paris, on the appeal against Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen will return to the Court of Appeal this Wednesday morning at nine o'clock. We hear that since the beginning of this appeal, it is a completely different Marine Le Pen who is at the helm. Alba Ventura tells us what is happening. (Politics).
On the first day of his interrogation before the Paris Court of Appeal, Marine Le Pen strongly rejected on Tuesday 20 January the idea of a "system" of misappropriation of European funds aimed at financing the National Front. He said for four hours, the leader of the far-right party National Rally had difficulty in appearing credible in front of the court. She then admitted a "punctual" mutualization of assistants, while denying any organization…
Le Pen denies claims of a ‘system’ to misues EU funds at appeal trial
With the 2027 presidential election on the horizon, the outcome of the trial could determine whether Marine Le Pen — a three-time presidential candidate — will be able to run, or whether her current ban from political office will remain in place.
Playing his political future until Wednesday night, Marine Le Pen tried this Tuesday not to get out of his gonds - and his new line of defense - despite a harsh hearing No, MPs
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