Marine Le Pen’s future to be decided as embezzlement verdict arrives

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 against 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.”