Allies of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen have accused the judiciary of a witch hunt and undue meddling in democracy after prosecutors requested she face an obligatory five-year ban from public office if convicted of misusing European Union funds.
The prosecutors' move to seek a "provisional execution" on the public office ban – a tough, rarely used tool that means the ban would stand irrespective of any appeal – casts doubt on Le Pen's chances of running in the 2027 presidential election.
Le Pen and co-accused members of her National Rally (RN) party deny using EU funds to pay party workers in France. They denounce the case as a politically motivated attempt to keep the RN from power.
"The goal is to attack a political opponent. It is a very violent attack on democracy. It's my political death that being requested," Le Pen told TF1 television on Friday, reacting to the prosecutors request.
Taking to social media, Le Pen posted: "It is my political death that is being demanded. My political survival will depend on whether this political death sentence is carried out, with provisional execution or not. That, I believe, is the aim of this operation, which has been launched by political opponents."
The furious response echoes the frequent attacks by US President-elect Donald Trump against the US judicial system over the legal woes he has faced since his first term.
Courts versus politicians
Judges and prosecutors around the world are wading into thorny political debates.
While some applaud them for holding politicians to account, critics rail against mission creep by unelected despots in robes.
In Brazil, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was banned from public office until 2030 for undermining faith in Brazil's electoral system.
More recently, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reacted furiously to judges blocking migrants being shipped to Albania.
"Look at what's happening in the United States, look at what's happening in Italy," said National Rally MEP Jean-Paul Garraud, a former judge who joined the RN in 2018. "Clearly, France is not being spared."
Even some mainstream French politicians expressed concern. Gerald Darmanin, who was President Emmanuel Macron's interior minister until September, wrote on X that "it would be deeply shocking" if Le Pen were not allowed to stand in 2027.
'Politicised' decision
The prosecutors' said they sought a "provisional execution" against Le Pen and her co-accused for repeated efforts to play for time in a probe that stretches back nearly a decade. An obligatory ban would prevent repeat offences, they argued.
In the event of a conviction, judges may choose to reject the prosecutors' request.
Ludovic Friat, the president of the USM, the largest union representing French prosecutors and judges, said the decision to request a "provisional execution" was unusual.
"It's a decision that could be viewed as politicised," he said, adding that he believed prosecutors had used it "to say that what happened was not democratically acceptable."
It remains to be seen how Le Pen will now adapt her political strategy. Her years-long push to professionalise the RN, seeking to shed its reputation for racism and antisemitism, stands in stark contrast to Trump's anti-institutional movement.
Le Pen's endeavours have paid off: The RN is now the largest single party in parliament, and props up Prime Minister Michel Barnier's weak coalition government.
