Marine Le Pen Under Fire In EU Funds Misuse Trial

Paris: The trial of Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far-right opposition party, Rassemblement National or the National Rally, and 24 other people opened before the Paris Criminal Court on Monday, 30 September. This trial, which will last almost two months, until 27 November is critical and of extreme political importance for Le Pen. 

She, along with the other deputies are suspected of having embezzled funds from the European Parliament to pay employees of their political party; a case of suspicions of fictitious employment aimed at diverting money from the European Parliament to the party's benefit.

About The Case

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and former MEPs of the National Rally, then called the National Front, are accused of having set up a system in order to share parliamentary assistants. It is alleged that these assistants were employed by the National Front for missions unrelated to the European Parliament in Strasbourg between 2004 and 2016, first under the direction of Jean-Marie Le Pen who was the leader of the far-right party till 2011 and then under his daughter, Marine Le Pen. The father-daughter duo firmly refutes these accusations saying that no personal enrichment took place. 

The lawyer of the European Parliament, Patrick Maisonneuve, however maintains that according to him the organisation of this embezzlement is undeniable. According to the prosecution, this was a centralised system, conceptualised and managed at the highest level of the party. Among the former parliamentary assistants, the long-time bodyguard of Jean-Marie Le Pen, then of Marine Le Pen has also been implicated. Le Pen will have to justify his employment as well as those of the others to avoid being convicted. 

Statement Given By Marine Le Pen

“We have not broken any rules. We have a lot of arguments that can be enumerated in order to defend what seems to me to be the parliamentary freedom that is at stake in this affair,” said Le Pen before the trial began.

The leader of the National Rally has already made it known that she intends to attend the hearings as often as possible, clearly anxious to be able to defend herself.

However, if she is indeed convicted, she will face heavy punishments; ten years in prison and a fine of up to one million euros. In addition, the sentence carries the penalty of ineligibility, that is a ten-year ban from election, that would crush all her chances to run for President in the 2027 elections. 

About The Trial

Along with her, nine former MEPs of the Front National will appear in court during this trial. With them, 12 people who were their parliamentary assistants and four party collaborators will also be tried in the hearings scheduled to take place over three half-days per week until 27 November.

As for the National Rally party’s current President Jordan Bardella, he need not appear in court, but his name hangs over the trial. In a book written by an investigative journalist, Tristan Berteloot, Mr Bardella too is accused of having played a role in the "system of embezzlement" of European public funds, by fabricating false evidence.

The court has also ordered the separation of the accused, Jean-Marie Le Pen who is 96 years old, from the case, owing to the condition of his health and his inability to be present or prepare his defense.