French prosecutors have asked an appeals court to uphold a five-year ban on far-right politician Marine Le Pen's candidacy in connection with the embezzlement of European Parliament funds. The Guardian reported. If the court grants the request, Le Pen would most likely not be able to take part in France's presidential election in 2027.
Prosecutors also recommended that the politician be sentenced to four years in prison, three of which would be suspended and one year to be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. They also propose a fine of €100,000. According to prosecutor Stéphane Madoz-Blanchet, the seriousness of the charges is so high that any lighter sentence would be insufficient.
The final decision will now fall to a panel of the Court of Appeal, which is expected to deliver its verdict within a few months, probably before the summer. Le Pen, 37, who heads the anti-immigration National Alliance party, was until recently considered one of the leading candidates for the French presidency.
However, last March she was convicted of a long-running bogus jobs scheme in the European Parliament and immediately banned from running for public office.
Le Pen has appealed the ruling and is seeking to have it overturned so she can run in 2027, saying in court that her party never set up a systematic mechanism to abuse EU funds. However, the prosecutors said she was at the centre of a sophisticated and centralised system that operated in an almost industrial manner.
As The Guardian reported, the investigation revealed that funds intended for the salaries of MEPs' assistants were used between 2004 and 2016 to fund party staff in France who had no connection to the work of the European Parliament.
The total damage was estimated at approximately €4.8 million. The claimants said that the Front National party at the time had made significant financial savings thanks to the system, and there was extensive evidence in emails and internal party documents.
Another prosecutor, THierry Ramonatxo criticised Le Pen for publicly attacking judges after last year's verdict, when she spoke of the „tyranny of judges“. He said judges were merely applying laws passed by parliament and such claims undermined confidence in justice. According to the prosecutor, this rhetoric even led to death threats against some of the judges who heard the case.
The defense is scheduled to deliver closing arguments next week. If Le Pen definitively loses the opportunity to run, her protégé Jordan Bardella could replace her at the head of the party and the presidential campaign. Le Pen herself has already admitted that Bardella could succeed in her place if she is knocked out of the race. At the same time, she has stressed that regardless of the outcome of the court case, her political movement will remain a strong part of the French political scene.
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