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What happens now with Marine Le Pen and her far-right party?

2025-03-31 17:49:39Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
What happens now with Marine Le Pen and her far-right party?
Marine Le Pen

Marine Le Pen's plans to run for the French presidency in 2027 suffered a likely fatal blow today, after she was found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds and declared ineligible to stand in elections for the next five years.

In a ruling that has shaken French and European politics, a court in Paris has said she cannot run for any public political office - meaning she appears to be out of the running for the presidential election, which is due to be held in the spring of 2027 at the latest.

The three-judge panel hearing the case took the extraordinary step of immediately implementing a ban on running for public office, which prosecutors had deemed necessary based on the “seriousness of Le Pen’s crimes.”

Le Pen was also fined 100,000 euros and sentenced to four years in prison, two of which were suspended for good behavior (or reinstated). The judges did not rule that these sentences would take effect immediately, so they could be delayed by a possible appeal.

Le Pen left the courtroom in frustration before her sentence was announced.

What happens now with Marine Le Pen and her far-right party?

All but one of the 24 other people who were on trial alongside Le Pen were found guilty and received a combination of fines, bans from running and suspended prison sentences.

Le Pen's party, the National Rally, was also found guilty and given a fine of 2 million euros, although it can be reduced by 1 million euros if it does not repeat the crime.

Le Pen and her co-defendants were accused of misappropriating European Parliament funds to pay party employees who rarely or never had any connection to work in Brussels or Strasbourg.

The court estimated that the defendants had embezzled more than 4 million euros, of which Le Pen was personally responsible as an MEP for 474,000 euros.

The defendants repeatedly reiterated their innocence during the four-month trial, but the prosecution presented evidence against them, including messages written by a parliamentary assistant who, a few months after being hired, sought to get to know the MEP for whom he was supposedly working.

Le Pen and her National Rally party knew the trial would be a setback for them, but they were relatively calm about the process. And the charges have had little impact on Le Pen's or the National Rally's popularity.

However, the defendants were caught off guard when prosecutors in November requested that immediate bans from running of varying lengths be granted to all of the defendants.

The harshest sentences were reserved for Le Pen, as she was accused of participating in the scheme as a former MEP and then running that scheme as a former party president.

If Le Pen fails to successfully appeal the decision before the next presidential election, the National Rally will likely be led by Jordan Bardella, the party's loyal 29-year-old president.

What happens now with Marine Le Pen and her far-right party?

And while the future of populist nationalism in France has rarely been more promising than it is today, Bardella's lack of experience during a high-profile presidential campaign has fueled skepticism, even within his own ranks, about whether he is up to the task.

Marine Le Pen's National Rally party is currently the largest opposition party in France's National Assembly. With 89 deputies, it has surpassed other opposition groups in size and influence. This represents an unprecedented level of representation for the far right in modern French politics.

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