The future of French nationally-oriented leader Marine Le Pen and France’s political landscape will be decided on Monday when a court delivers its verdict on charges against her and party functionaries for embezzling European Parliament money.
Le Pen and her fellow party members are accused of “misusing public funds” of the European Union between 2004 and 2016, while Le Pen is accused of setting up a “centralised system” of laundering EP money. According to the prosecution’s version, the European Parliament allocated funds to pay parliamentary assistants of MEPs from Le Pen’s party, although in fact the assistants only worked for the Rassemblement Nationale (RN) party. The European Parliament estimates the damage at about 7 million euros.
As previously reported by the Paris prosecutor’s office, an investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) against the party was launched in June 2014 following an anonymous report of “undue conditions of employment” for the assistants of the RN MEPs.
The Paris prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into “breach of trust.” Following searches of a number of party members in December 2016, the public prosecutor’s office also opened an investigation into “fraud in an organised group by abusing the position of MEPs’ and “falsification of documents.” In 2017, the European Parliament acted as a civil party in a lawsuit against Le Pen’s party.
First accusations against Le Pen
Le Pen, who served as an MEP between 2004 and 2017, was indicted in June 2017 on charges of breach of trust between 2009 and 2016 and complicity in breach of trust between 2014 and 2016. In 2018, the charges were reclassified to “embezzlement of public funds and complicity in embezzlement of public funds.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, “numerous facts” indicated that 16 party deputies and 20 assistants held official positions in the party at the same time as they worked in the EP. Meanwhile, according to EP regulations, the remuneration paid to staff “cannot directly or indirectly serve as payment for party activities.”
Le Pen’s defence argues that the MEPs’ assistants are not employees of the European Parliament, but help the MPs in their political work, therefore, the MPs can assign them tasks of any kind.
Possible penalties
The trial in the case lasted from September 30 to November 27, 2024. The prosecutor’s office requested for all defendants the punishment of inability to be elected to public office, with immediate application of the sentence. For Le Pen, this measure has been requested for five years. If the court approves the immediate enforcement of the sentence, Le Pen will not be able to run for president in 2027.
The prosecution has also requested a five-year prison sentence for Le Pen, of which three are suspended, and two more cannot be appealed, but can be changed to a less strict preventive measure, such as serving time with an electronic bracelet at home. Thus, the leader of the RN in the French parliament will not go to jail. The prosecution also demanded to oblige Le Pen to pay a fine of 300 thousand euros, and the party RN as a legal entity – a fine of 2 million euros.
The RN party came out on top in the first round of the snap parliamentary elections in France in July. The party came third in the second round due to a deal by supporters of President Emmanuel Macron’s losing party and a coalition of the left. Nevertheless, it managed to significantly increase its number of MPs in parliament, and polls put Marine Le Pen in the lead for the 2027 presidential election.
