Marine Le Pen has been found "guilty" of misappropriation of public funds and disqualified from public office with immediate effect for the next five years, cutting short her presidential ambitions for 2027, in a ruling that threatens to create a political earthquake in France. The leader of the National Rally (RN) has been accused along with eight other party members of a scheme to divert funds from European parliamentarians to the coffers of the National Front, the RN's predecessor.
The ruling will have an immediate effect by including "provisional execution" as requested by the prosecutor, without waiting for the outcome of an appeal. This was a key point that Le Pen herself had criticized as a "political death sentence." Additionally, Le Pen has also been sentenced to four years in prison, with a two-year suspension, two of which are firm, which she can serve with an electronic bracelet, and a fine of 100,000 euros. However, this part of the sentence is pending the appeal process.
Le Pen had previously criticized the legal battle as an attempt to condemn her to "political death." Visibly angered, she suddenly left the courtroom without even waiting for the complete reading of the sentence. Her lawyer announced that they will appeal the verdict.
The fate of Marine Le Pen was in the hands of a woman, Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis, who acknowledged in advance the importance of the case, including the political impact it could have. De Perthuis warned, however, that the court would act "in the usual manner" and emphasized that this was, above all, a criminal proceeding.
The presiding judge specified that Marine Le Pen was found "guilty" of misappropriating European public funds estimated in her personal case at 474,000 euros. The far-right leader allegedly used this amount to pay her bodyguard, her chief of staff, and an assistant. Le Pen argued during the trial that she had done nothing "illegal" and that the accusations were due to "a narrow interpretation" of the notion of parliamentary assistants during her time as a Member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2017.
The judge stated that the investigation had shown that the beneficiaries of these funds were actually "working for the party" and were not performing functions related to the European Parliament. "The investigation also showed that it was not administrative errors, but misappropriation within the framework of a system put in place to reduce the party's expenses," the judge explained.
Patrick Maisonneuve, the lawyer for the European Parliament, warned that what was at stake was the "misappropriation of European taxpayers' money." The EU estimates that the "damage" caused could have been 2.9 million euros over a decade.
The verdict has shaken the French political class like an earthquake. RN deputies threatened to boycott the National Assembly and take parliamentary actions that could jeopardize the already fragile position of Prime Minister François Bayrou, a centrist. RN President and Le Pen's protege, Jordan Bardella, emerges as the possible natural successor amid the political storm.
"It was not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly convicted; it is French democracy that has been executed," was the reaction of Bardella's 'protege', in statements to the AFP news agency.
Upon learning of the verdict, Le Pen met behind closed doors with her party leaders to discuss the next steps, including filing an appeal against the sentence, which could take months to resolve and does not affect its immediate execution.
The first international reaction came from the Kremlin, condemning the sentence against Le Pen as "a violation of democratic norms".
Hungarian Prime Minister, the far-right Viktor Orban, showed solidarity with Le Pen with a brief message on social media: "Je suis Marine!".
Le Pen arrived at the Clichy courts shortly before ten o'clock on Monday morning and headed straight to room 2.01, the same room where former President Nicolas Sarkozy was tried for the alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign. The ruling had the French political class and society on edge.
Alongside Le Pen, 24 other party members appeared in court. Among them, her former partner and mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot, whose political future could also be seriously compromised.
So far, the trial has barely dented Le Pen's popularity, as she leads by a wide margin over her potential rivals for the presidency. The National Rally leader tops the latest Le Journal de Dimanche poll with 37% of preferences, compared to 25% for Édouard Philippe and 21% for Gabriel Attal, two other potential candidates.