Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – A European Union court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by Jean-Marie Le Pen’s heirs against a European Parliament ruling that requires the repayment of approximately €303,200. This amount was unjustly claimed as expenses by the late French far-right leader.
In 2024, French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen filed a case with the General Court of the European Union, pursuing nullification of the conclusion of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament. By that decision, he was required to reimburse €303 200.99, a sum thought to have been wrongly accepted.
“The General Court dismisses the action brought by Mr Le Pen and his heirs,”
The court stated in a statement.
“The procedure which led the Parliament to adopt the recovery decision and to issue the debit note is not contrary to the principles of legal certainty and the protection of legitimate expectations.”
The court also notes that on 23 January 2024, the Secretary-General of the European Parliament informed Mr. Le Pen about the alleged irregularities and asked him to submit any observations within 2 months.
How did the European Parliament justify the repayment demand?
According to the EU Parliament, Mr Le Pen had improperly invoiced private payments 1 under funding object 400, planned for MEPs’ parliamentary costs. In his activity, Mr Le Pen asserted a violation of the principles of legal assurance and legitimate expectations and a violation of his right to a fair trial, the EU parliament said.
The disputed expenses included items such as ties, watches, virtual reality headsets, kitchen scales, and even up to 129 bottles of wine, which were charged under parliamentary budget items intended solely for the official expenses of MEPs.
The former MEP also requested the cancellation of the debit note issued to him and asked for the Parliament to cover the costs. After Mr. Le Pen’s death on January 7, 2025, his daughters—Marion Le Pen, Yann Maréchal, and Marie-Caroline Olivier—continued the ongoing proceedings as his heirs.
What other MEPs were penalised for similar misconduct?
In the past, there have been several analogous cases dealing with the misuse of European Parliament money and expenses by MEPs that reflect more systemic issues of financial incompetence and fraud in the European Parliament.
In 2024, the former Italian MEP Crescenzio Rivellini was condemned to repay €250,000 in a ruling from OLAF, where it was established there was evidence of fraud involving the hiring of a parliamentary assistant who did not exist. There was evidence that payments were made to a firm controlled by the Parliamentary assistant, which is prohibited by the European Parliament’s rules on conflicts of interest. The EU Court of Justice upheld this compensation case.
