Marine Le Pen Banned from Public Office Following Court Verdict
Paris, The Gulf Observer: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for public office effective immediately after a court found her guilty of misappropriating European Union funds. The ruling, issued on Monday, imposes a five-year ban from public office along with a four-year prison sentence, including two years of house arrest with an electronic tag.
Le Pen, 56, denied any wrongdoing, calling the case a political attack aimed at ending her career. The court ruled that she and her National Rally (RN) party misused €3 million ($3.25 million) in European Parliament funds, which were meant for parliamentary assistants but were instead used to pay party staff between 2004 and 2016.
Despite her lawyers’ plan to appeal the verdict, the ban takes immediate effect, jeopardizing her ability to contest the 2027 presidential election. Her party has condemned the ruling as judicial overreach, drawing comparisons to legal challenges faced by former US President Donald Trump.
The decision has sparked mixed reactions both in France and internationally. While Le Pen’s allies, including RN President Jordan Bardella, have decried the verdict as an attack on democracy, critics argue that justice must be upheld. The Kremlin and far-right figures across Europe, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, have condemned the ruling. Meanwhile, leaders from France’s Green Party and Communist Party have insisted that Le Pen must serve her sentence like any other defendant.
This ruling also saw eight other members of Le Pen’s party and twelve parliamentary assistants convicted for their roles in the misuse of EU funds. As the appeal process unfolds, the future of France’s far-right political landscape remains uncertain.
