FRANCE'S far right movement has suffered a major setback after its most prominent politician was barred from running for president over an embezzlement conviction.
Marine Le Pen and 24 other officials from her National Rally party were accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations.
She has been barred from seeking public office, in a development which will scupper her ambitions to run for president in 2027 – a scenario Le Pen has previously described as a "political death".
Le Pen and her co-defendants denied wrongdoing.
Le Pen was runner-up to president Emmanuel Macron (above) in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her party’s electoral support has grown in recent years.
The nine-week trial took place in late 2024.
Le Pen has denied accusations she was at the head of “a system” meant to siphon off EU parliament money to benefit her party, which she led from 2011 to 2021.
She argued instead that it was acceptable to adapt the work of the aides paid by the European Parliament to the needs of the legislators, including some highly political work related to the party, which was called the National Front at the time.
While giving evidence, Le Pen told the court: “I absolutely don’t feel I have committed the slightest irregularity, the slightest illegal move.”
Hearings showed that some EU money was used to pay for Le Pen’s bodyguard — who was once her father’s (below) bodyguard — as well as her personal assistant.
Prosecutors asked the court to declare Le Pen guilty and requested a two-year prison sentence and a five-year period of ineligibility.
Le Pen said she felt they were “only interested” in preventing her from running for president.
Prosecutors also requested a guilty verdict for all other co-defendants, including various sentences of up to one year in prison and a two million euro (£1.6 million) fine for the party.
