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.
41 Articles
41 Articles
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.
The EU elite have banned European democracy
In a democracy, the government in office cannot ban an opposing candidate from running on the grounds that the candidate would win and take the place of the current government. But that is what President Macron has done to Marine Le Pen. Le Pen heads the largest political party in France. She has been banned by a French court from holding office for five years. This prevents her from competing in the 2027 presidential election, where she has lon…
Called to defend herself for the first time this Tuesday 20 January before the Court of Appeal, the party leader defended herself from having been at the centre of the "generalised system" of embezzlement of public funds to pay employees of the National Front with the money of the European Parliament.
Warming tower for Marine Le Pen this Tuesday. On the stand, the triple presidential candidate doesn't give up anything. As in the first instance, she denies in bloc. Hopefully a miracle?
The statement by Marine Le Pen this Tuesday before the Paris court is decisive for his political future, as it will determine whether he succeeds in convincing the judges of his innocence and, therefore, whether he will be able to stand for the presidential election of 2027. The leader of the French extreme right has testified on the fifth day of the appeal process on the case of diversion of European funds for which he was sentenced in March 20…
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