French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has denied breaking the rules as she and her party, the National Rally (RN), and around 20 others face accusations of embezzlement from the European Parliament, in a matter that has the potential to derail his political ambitions.
Arriving at the Paris court on Monday, Mme Le Pen assured that they had “not violated any political rules or any [règlement] of the European Parliament”. She pledged to present “extremely serious and extremely solid arguments.”
The nine-week trial will be closely watched by M’s political rivalsme Le Pen, because she is a serious candidate in the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron in the next presidential election which will take place in 2027.
This comes as a new government dominated by the center and the right has just taken office following the June-July legislative elections. Some observers expect the trial to prevent National Rally MPs, including Marine Le Pen herself, from fully playing their opposition role in Parliament, as they will be busy focusing on defending the party.
Since leaving the head of the party three years ago, Marine Le Pen has sought to position herself as a conventional candidate, capable of attracting a wider electorate. His efforts paid off, with the party making significant gains in the last elections, both at European and national level. But a guilty verdict could seriously compromise his attempt to take the Élysée.
The National Rally and 27 of its senior officials are accused of using money intended for EU parliamentary assistants to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of EU regulations. bloc of 27 countries. The National Rally was then called National Front.
Marine Le Pen, whose party has softened its anti-EU stance in recent years, denies any wrongdoing and says the affair is politically motivated.
If found guilty, Marine Le Pen and her co-defendants face up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million euros each. Additional sanctions, such as loss of civil rights or ineligibility to run for office, could also be imposed, a scenario that could hamper, or even destroy, Marine Le Pen’s goal of running for president again after the end of Emmanuel Macron’s mandate. Marine Le Pen was Emmanuel Macron’s opponent in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.
She was president of the party from 2011 to 2021 and today leads the group of RN deputies in the French National Assembly.
Despite his denial, his party has already reimbursed 1 million to the European Parliament, declared the Parliament’s lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve. Of this sum, 330,000 euros are directly linked to an alleged embezzlement of funds by Marine Le Pen.
A long-standing controversy
The legal proceedings follow a report launched in 2015 by Martin Schulz, then president of the European Parliament, to the French authorities concerning possible fraudulent use of European funds by members of the National Front.
Mr Schulz also referred the matter to the European Anti-Fraud Office, which launched a separate investigation into the matter.
The European Parliament’s suspicions were further strengthened when a 2015 organizational chart showed that 16 MEPs and 20 parliamentary assistants held official positions within the party – positions unrelated to their supposed duties as European parliamentary staff.
Alexandre Varault, a spokesman for the National Rally elected to the European Parliament in June, told The Associated Press that Marine Le Pen would attend the first day of the trial, adding that he hoped for the acquittal of all the accused.
Allegations of embezzlement of public funds
The investigating judges concluded that Marine Le Pen, as party leader, orchestrated the allocation of parliamentary assistance budgets and asked MEPs to hire people to occupy positions within the party. These people were presented as European parliamentary assistants, but in reality they would have worked for the National Rally in various capacities.
The European Parliament’s legal team is seeking €2.7 million in compensation for financial and reputational damage. This amount corresponds to the 3.7 million euros allegedly defrauded through this fraud, less the million euros already reimbursed.
In the 2014 European elections, the National Front won a record 24 MEP seats, finishing first with 24.8% of the vote, ahead of the center right and the Socialists. This rise allowed the party to make a substantial financial windfall, then in the grip of serious financial difficulties.
An audit of the party’s accounts between 2013 and 2016 found that it had a deficit of €9.1 million at the end of 2016. Yet the party still had a cash balance of €1.7 million and had lent 1 million euros to Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign in 2017, while holding 87,000 euros in loans to Cotelec, its financing association.
At the time, the party was also in debt to the tune of €9.4 million with a Russian bank, a loan taken out in 2014 for €6 million.
Alleged systemic practice
The investigation revealed numerous irregularities involving prominent party members.
Thierry Légier, long-time bodyguard of Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of Marine Le Pen, was mentioned as his parliamentary assistant. But his CV made no reference to the role, and he made no mention of it in his 2012 autobiography. Mr Légier admitted during the inquiry that he had not been interviewed and that he had signed his employment contract without fully understanding his official role.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who led the National Front from 1972 to 2011, will not appear in court alongside his former colleagues due to health problems. Now aged 96, he was found unfit to testify by a court in June. He has 11 previous convictions, including for violence against a public servant and inciting hatred.
He has denied wrongdoing during his tenure as party leader.