PARIS: French prosecutors demanded on Tuesday that an appeal court maintain a five-year ban on far-right leader Marine Le Pen from holding public office for a European parliament fraud, stepping up threats to her presidential ambitions.
If the court upholds last year’s bombshell ruling by a lower tribunal, Le Pen would be banned from running in France’s 2027 presidential election, widely seen as her best chance at the top job.
The prosecution also sought a four-year prison term with three years suspended and a 100,000-euro ($118,000) fine for the figurehead leader of the National Rally (RN) party, which has been riding high in the opinion polls.
Le Pen had hoped her appeal against her ban over a fake jobs scam at the European parliament — an accusation the 57-year-old has denied — would clear the way for her to run in the election after Emmanuel Macron stands down.
But during closing arguments lasting nearly six hours, attorney general Stephane Madoz-Blanchet told the court that “Marine Le Pen was the instigator, following in her father’s footsteps, of a system that enabled the party to embezzle 1.4 million euros.”
The first trial found Le Pen, along with 24 former European lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European parliament funds to employ RN staff in France.
Le Pen, the RN and 11 others are appealing the March 2025 ruling, which also sentenced her to four years in jail, with two suspended.
- Presidential race at stake -
Le Pen made it to the second round in the 2017 and 2022 presidential polls, losing to Macron both times. But he cannot run again next year after two consecutive terms in office.
During the appeal trial, she has denied that the RN had any “system” to embezzle European parliament funds and has said her party acted in “complete good faith.”
The appeal ends in February, with a verdict expected within months.
If she then appeals to the supreme court, its judges will rule before the 2027 presidential elections, they have said.
Le Pen has said she will decide whether to run after the ruling in the appeal trial, and has indicated that her lieutenant — 30-year-old RN president Jordan Bardella — could be the party’s candidate instead.
A poll in November predicted that, should he run, Bardella would win the second round of the 2027 elections, no matter who stands against him.
During Tuesday’s hearing, prosecutor Thierry Ramonatxo pushed back at claims that the judiciary had in any way aimed to “block a party leader’s ascent to the highest executive office” in the initial ruling.
“To suggest that the judiciary could oppose the will of the sovereign people is inaccurate,” he said.
“A judge is the guardian of the law and merely applies it.”
A French court last year handed an eight-month suspended jail sentence to a 76-year-old man over a death threat against the judge who convicted Le Pen.
