France

Marine Le Pen ineligible : a political earthquake

- 3:01 pm
Marine Le Pen at the European Parliament (© Claude Truong-Ngoc / Wikimedia Commons)

Marine Le Pen at the European Parliament (© Claude Truong-Ngoc / Wikimedia Commons)

Marine Le Pen was sentenced on Monday by the Paris Criminal Court to five years’ ineligibility with immediate execution, together with a four-year prison sentence, two of which were suspended, and a fine of 100,000 euros. She will therefore be ineligible to stand for the 2027 presidential election.

The decision of the Paris Criminal Court has eliminated Marine Le Pen from the next presidential election. The leader of the Rassemblement National party was on trial in the case of the parliamentary assistants of the Front National (now Rassemblement National) at the European Parliament.
The Pas-de-Calais MP was found guilty of misappropriation of public funds and concealment, a case which dates back to the period 2004-2016.

Exceptionally severe sanctions

The prosecution brought to light a system aimed at paying party executives from European funds intended for MEPs’ parliamentary assistants. The court assessed the damage at 4.1 million euros. “Marine Le Pen was at the heart of this system for nine years, with authority”, emphasized the president of the court in her deliberations.

thunderbolt for the RN

This conviction is a brutal blow to the presidential ambitions of Marine Le Pen, who appeared to be one of the favorites for 2027. The provisional execution of ineligibility, i.e. immediate, is not suspensive in the event of an appeal.
The RN party was stunned. The party, which had taken years to implement a “dédiabolisation” strategy, now finds itself without its main figurehead. Jordan Bardella, the party’s current president, could be propelled to the forefront, but the political shockwave is inevitable.

International reactions

Marine Le Pen left the court in a hurry, without waiting for her sentence to be handed down. Since then, reactions have been pouring in. Among the first to express support were Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who denounced a “witch hunt” against a European opposition figure.
The case of the parliamentary assistants is reminiscent of other similar scandals, notably that involving the MoDem, several former officials of which were convicted.
With this verdict, Marine Le Pen’s path to the Élysée Palace has been brutally closed. It remains to be seen how the Rassemblement National will bounce back from this unprecedented ordeal.

Political consequences to come

The severity of the sentences (24 defendants, including eight MEPs, received stiff penalties) and, in particular, Marine Le Pen’s ineligibility for immediate execution, will not go unchallenged by the RN. The party has 13 million voters and 123 deputies (or equivalent) in the National Assembly. It is therefore a major political force in France.
It’s conceivable that, when the opportunity arises, RN deputies will vote for a motion to bring down Prime Minister François Bayrou, plunging France into indescribable chaos.
In any case, Marine Le Pen’s “political death”, as she herself puts it, will have consequences for the country’s entire political life that are difficult to gauge today.

Marine Le Pen will be speaking tonight on TF1 at 8pm.

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