Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Marine Le Pen, currently topping the French polls for the 2027 national elections with 36% of voting intentions, has been officially barred from participating due to her trial regarding embezzlement charges for her political party Rassemblement National.
The Decision so far
On the 31st of March 2025, Marine Le Pen – leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) – was convicted of diverting European Parliament funds intended for parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016. The court found that the funds were misused to directly benefit her party’s domestic political activities rather than the EU work they were intended for.
She was sentenced to four years in prison (two of which are to be served under house arrest), fined €100,000, and – most significantly – banned from holding public office for five years with immediate effect and not affected by any possible appeals. The ruling also affected 24 other RN officials, including high-profile figures such as Perpignan mayor Louis Aliot, though not all were treated equally since Aliot, while sentenced to ineligibility, retained his political functions pending appeal.
The disqualification is effective immediately due to a special clause called “provisional execution” inserted by the judges – a rarely used mechanism that overrides the appeal process and prevents her from participating in the 2027 elections regardless of how long the legal back-and-forth may last.
Controversy of the decision
The verdict couldn’t have landed at a more politically sensitive time for French domestic politics – as I have discussed directly within Brussels Morning Newspaper before. Moreover, according to the latest JDD polls published a few days ago, Marine Le Pen is polling at an unprecedented 36%, well ahead of her closest rival, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe who is standing at 25%.
To justify what the court most probably knew was going to be a significant event in France’s current political world, it cited the risk of “significant disruption to democratic order” if Marine Le Pen were allowed to run. However, a significant part of the political landscape, including the far-left opposition to RN Jean-Luc Mélenchon, argued that such a preemptive disqualification undermines democratic principles and many qualified this decision as being a mistake. The arguments from these unexpected critics of the decision can be summed up easily: Beating the far-right in a sustainable way needs to be done through debate and at the voting booth.
To add another part to the controversial puzzle, a now-notorious comment from prosecutor Louise Neython during the trial has been used to showcase the perceived biases present during the sentencing. Prosecutor Neython indeed said “I cannot ask for a relaxe [acquittal]. It would hurt me too much” referring to one specific contract involving former RN vice president Jean-François Jalkh – the unquestionably unprofessional remarks has been talked about on talk shows and even got publicly condemned by lawyer Alain Jakubowicz, who called it “scandalous” and damaging to public faith in the judiciary’s impartiality.
A familiar story? Not quite
Comparisons with the 2017 François Fillon scandal were inevitable since both were accused of misusing public funds and both were banned from public office. But Fillon was allowed to run his campaign, losing naturally at the ballot box while the court, in Marine Le Pen’s case, opted for a proactive exclusion.
In a press conference following the verdict, Marine Le Pen talked to the press for 20 straight minute and threw a warning towards the listeners: “Those who rejoice in this decision should not rejoice too quickly. Today the system is unjustly used against us [RN], tomorrow it will be unjustly used against them.”
Whether the quote is prophetic or a political scare tactic to try and garner sympathy, one thing is certain – the 2027 national French election has just been profoundly and in historic fashion altered, not through a surprising debate debacle, or a current foreign corruption case, but by a 10 year old party wide embezzlement case which concerns more Brussels than Paris.
