Fighting for her political life, National Rally leader Marine Le Pen appeared before a Paris court this week as she appeals an embezzlement case, which has seen her barred from standing in any election for five years.
At the Court of Appeals on Tuesday, Madame Le Pen began her appeal against last year’s conviction, in which she and other members of the then-National Front party were convicted of allegedly using EU party funds to finance RN operations in France.
Not only was Le Pen convicted over the alleged “embezzlement”, but was also given a sentence of five years of political ineligibility, which came into effect immediately, even during the appeal process, despite defendants usually regaining the presumption of innocence in France during such challenges. Crucially, the five year ban would prohibit Le Pen from running in the presidential election to replace Emmanuel Macron and likely ending her chances at achieving her longtime goal of winning the Élysée Palace.
While the National Rally leader took a combatitive position during her initial trial last year, claiming that it was blatant lawfare tactics by the establishment to keep her from taking power, she stuck a more conciliatory tone this week in Paris.
“I have no feeling that I have committed a crime,” she told the court according to Le Figaro. Le Pen also questioned Why the European Parliament “failed to play its role in raising the alarm” about any potential wrongdoings. She argued that none of her colleagues would want to risk being on the end of “political justice” and therefore if any breaches were made, it would have been by mistake rather than malice.
It is an open secret in Brussels that politicians and their parties have long used EU funds — intended to pay for EU parliamentary staff — to subsidise political activities in their home countries, despite the domestic and international political operations supposedly being seperate under EU law and the funds not being legally fungible.
Indeed, a report from the Follow the Money website in 2023 found that between between 2019 and 2022 one in five Members of European Parliament (MEPs) had broken the same rules Le Pen and her fellow party memebrs were accused of breaking, yet just one out of 139 had even faced an investigation over the matter. Critics say the funding issue is basically ignored unless the politicians threaten the European Union itself, when suddenly investigations begin.
However, it is unclear if the French appeals court will consider such disparities in its ruling. While the hearings will take place this week, a final judgement is not expected to be handed down by the court until sometime in the Summer, which would theoretically provide Le Pen with enough time to mount a campaign for the 2027 presidential race.
Yet, should her appeal fail, it would have major implications for the presidential race and the course of French history. Indeed, if she is prohibited from standing, it would mark the first time since 1981 since neither she nor her father, Jean Marie Le Pen, were not on the ballot in a presidential election.
The three-time presidential candidate has said that if banned, she will throw her weight behind her 30-year-old deputy, Jordan Bardella, who would become the youngest president in French history if elected. Currently either Le Pen or Bardella are projected to win over the likely challengers from the liberal centre and far-left.
A poll published on Sunday by the Verian Institute for Le Monde suggested that the National Rally, which has long been demonized as the “far-right” of French politics, despite having broadly left-wing views on economics and state intervention, is increasingly being seen as within the mainstream by the public.
According to the survey, 42 per cent of respondents said that the share some the ideas of the National Rally, an increase of 13 points over just two years ago. Meanwhile, despite the boogeyman characterizations, 44 per cent said that they did not beleive that the party represented a “danger” if elected, compared to 47 per cent who did think it was a danger in 2022.
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