French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is awaiting the fate of her political career as French judges will start ruling over an alleged embezzlement case of European Parliament’s funds against her and her party Rassemblement National (RN) and the Constitutional Court rules for bans on convicted politicians.
The court will decide on the case next Monday. Le Pen and around twenty party members are accused of having used around €3 million of European Parliament funds to pay for staffers in France. Her defence stated that the breach follows a too narrow definition of what parliamentary funds can be used and what an MP assistant can do.
A guilty charge will most likely bar her from running in the 2027 French presidential elections, where she is, according to pollsters, the frontrunner, as RN has transformed itself into the most-voted party in the French parliament. Even if she is not found guilty immediately, her political career can still be up in the air.
Prosecutors are asking for provisional execution on her case, meaning that she could still be on a five-year ban from running for office while the case makes it through the various degrees of appeal. Under French law, sentences start the moment the last appeal is decided. Thus, the case may be in court for months, if not years. However, the provisional execution will see her ban starting immediately. Le Pen could still keep her current MP seat but would be barred from elections in future votes.
Le Pen and her party complained about the case, saying that it is a witch-hunt against her that seeks her “political death.” Even some politicians from other parties, both centre and left-wing, have expressed discomfort about the possibility that the court mandates who can and can’t run for office. Prime Minister François Bayrou and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin are among those casting doubts. The judges can ignore the request of the prosecutions or lower the provisional execution, still allowing Le Pen to run in 2027.
In addition to Le Pen’s woes, the Constitutional Court ruled last Friday that politicians could be barred from office immediately if convicted of a crime. The case is not directly related to hers but involves a councilman from the French overseas territory of Mayotte. However, the decision could reinforce a potential ban if she is found guilty of the charges.
