Far-right
leader could be barred from standing for presidency if she is convicted over
alleged fake jobs scam
Kim Willsher
in Paris
Sun 30 Mar
2025 12.03 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/30/marine-le-pen-alleged-embezzlement-verdict
The future
of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen – and France’s political landscape – will
be decided on Monday when a court hands down its verdict on charges she and
party officials embezzled money from the European parliament.
If
convicted, the three-time presidential candidate of the National Rally (RN)
could be barred from standing to succeed Emmanuel Macron in the 2027
presidential election.
Public
prosecutors have demanded Le Pen be given a €300,000 (£250,000) fine, a prison
sentence and that she be prevented from holding or seeking to hold a political
position or five years.
On Friday,
in a case that did not involve Le Pen, France’s constitutional council
delivered a blow to the RN figurehead when it ruled that politicians can be
barred from office immediately if convicted of a crime.
Le Pen has
accused prosecutors of seeking her “political death” and said making her
ineligible for office would confound voters’ wishes and threaten the democratic
process.
A poll in Le
Figaro earlier this month suggested 42% of French people wanted her to stand in
2027. Le Pen appointed Jordan Bardella, 29, as RN president in 2021 but a
senior party member said there was “no plan B” if Le Pen was ruled immediately
ineligible to stand in 2027, and accused the party of sticking its head in the
sand.
Marc de
Fleurian, the RN MP for Pas-de-Calais, said: “The question of ineligibility
doesn’t arise. It’s not taboo, but as long as we’ve said that such injustice
cannot happen, it won’t.”
Le Pen and
24 others from RN, including party officials, employees, MEPs and assistants,
were tried last November on charges of taking money from the European
parliament as part of an alleged fake jobs scam. Instead of the money being
spent on EU staff, they were accused of having used it to pay party staff in
France. The European parliament estimated the allegedly embezzled funds
amounted to about €7m. Le Pen and the others have denied the charges.
Any verdict
that does not clear Le Pen of wrongdoing will leave her political future in
grave doubt. If she is found guilty of embezzlement she will almost certainly
appeal, which will require a new trial to be held, and any prison sentence or
fine will be postponed until the appeal hearing is judged. If she is given a
five-year bar on standing for public office with immediate effect it will be
unlikely she can enter the 2027 presidential race unless the appeal process is
speeded up and she is cleared in time to stand. If the judges decide the bar on
standing should be postponed, she will still have what one RN member described
as a “Damoclean sword” hanging over her political campaign.
Asked last
week if she was concerned for her political future, Le Pen said: “I’m not
thinking about it. Fear doesn’t remove the danger so I don’t see any interest
in guessing in advance. I consider myself completely innocent of what I have
been accused, so if my guilt is declared then I will use the law to again
defend my innocence.”
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