For three days, she has defended herself, in her own style, against the accusations that could ruin her political career, just as she is closer to achieving what she has been seeking for so long: to become president. The leader of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, has testified over the past three days in the trial investigating her and another twenty party members for misuse of funds in the European Parliament. They are accused of consciously and even coordinately using the money intended to pay parliamentary assistants in Brussels for party matters in France.
The trial began two weeks ago, and Marine Le Pen was scheduled to testify starting this Monday. Her testimony is the most anticipated of the process, which will last until November and, if the facts are proven and she is convicted, could result in her disqualification for 10 years. This would complicate her aspirations for the 2027 presidential elections. Le Pen aims to finally reach the Élysée, as Emmanuel Macron, whom she has already lost to in two elections, will not run again.
Le Pen, who has testified for three days, denies having done anything outside the law and has questioned the investigative process that was carried out. "I do not feel that I have committed the slightest irregularity (...) I have not flouted the rules. I can question them, the way in which the European Parliament analyzes them afterwards, but I do not break the rules. When we are aware of them, we apply them," she said on Tuesday.
On Monday, she explained for over seven hours. She stated that in Parliament, "the deputies are swallowed up, you can eat, sleep, everything is done so that the officials live isolated (...) Our job is to get them out of that living environment so that they get involved in politics," said Le Pen, justifying the fact that the assistants, paid for European parliamentary activities, were dealing with party matters.
For her, it was impossible to distinguish her role as party president (which she held until 2021) from that of a European parliamentarian. "With the few of us, it was impossible not to share assistants. The Eurochamber was aware of that situation, at that time (between 2020 and 2014) they were less strict." In the 2014 European elections, they went from having three MEPs to reaching 23. The ones held on June 9 were won precisely by Jordan Bardella, the current president of the National Rally and MEP. He is not involved in this judicial process.
Patrick Maisonneuve, the Parliament's lawyer, reminded Le Pen that she herself once stated that "when parliamentary assistants were not busy with parliamentary tasks, they could work for the party." She denies it, "it was not for the party, but for the benefit of the party," she said, annoyed.
In addition to Le Pen, Catherine Griset, her former collaborator, has testified this week. "I have never worked for the party, I worked for Marine Le Pen as a political figure. I was the gateway, people turned to me before turning to her," she said. If found guilty, she could appeal the sentence, but given the timing (just over two years left until the presidential elections), her path to the Élysée would be in jeopardy.