A French court found Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement funds from the European Union in a verdict that could end the plans of the extreme right leader to run for the French presidency in the country’s next elections.
Although the Court had not yet announced its sentence, the prosecutor of Paris had previously requested that Le Pen, 56, in front of a five -year prison sentence and a five -year prohibition from the public office, together with a fine of 300,000 euros ($ 316,860) if it is declared guilty. Judges can choose to adopt, modify or ignore that request.
The nine -week trial, which began in November after almost a decade of investigations, saw Le Pen and another 24 figures from his National Rally (RN) party accused of misuse of more than 3 million euros ($ 3.3 million) of funds of the European Parliament to pay the party personnel between 2004 and 2016 in the violation of the EU regulations. All the defendants have denied the charges.
Delivering his ruling on Monday, Judge Benedict of Perthuis said that “it was established that all these people were really working for the party, that their legislator (EU) had not given them any task,” according to Reuters.
He added that the investigations also showed that “these were not administrative errors … but embezzlement in the framework of an established system to reduce the costs of the part.”
The ruling has the potential to remodel French politics, and Pen turned his extreme right vehicle into a main and popular political force and the favorite to win the next presidential elections in the country, which will be fought in 2027.
Although he won the greatest number of votes in the first round of last year’s parliamentary elections, RN could not win a majority and remains out of the France Coalition. Since then, Emmanuel Macron, the country’s centrist president, has tried to direct his country through months of thin majorities, votes without confidence and political uncertainty.
Although it has experienced a mild recovery in the surveys during that time, in part due to the domino effect of the first month back in the position of President Donald Trump, Macron cannot apply for the presidency for the third time and any of his centrist successors risks losing to his ultra conservative rival.
A recent survey conducted by the French Public Opinion Institute for the French Broadcaster Sud Radio discovered that Le Pen, with about 42% of the votes, would easily win the first round of the next presidential elections.
Even if the verdict appeals, a “provisional execution” could see Le Pen, a three -time presidential contender and leader in the surveys before the 2027 vote, forbidden to run in the elections.
RN has accused the prosecutors of seeking the “political death” of Le Pen to prevent the popular right -wing leader from looking for a public office.
Le Pen said on Saturday that he expected the clemency of the judges, telling the French newspaper the Tribune Dimanche that “with the provisional execution, the judges have the power of life or death about our movement … but I do not think they get so far.”
After taking care of the leadership of his late father Jean-Marie Le Pen, he has transformed the RN, with its nationalist roots of the extreme right, in the largest individual party in the Parliament of France in making it more conventional and popularizing it among the youngest and most blue voters.
It is expected that Pen Prostégé and the president of the party, Jordan Bardella, 29, take his place if his mentor is forced to resign.
The trial has also generated a fierce debate within France on the issue of how much judges should be allowed to intervene in the country’s policy.
