Paris, March 31, 2025
Marine Le Pen was found guilty of misappropriation of public funds in the case concerning the parliamentary assistants of the “Rassemblement national” (or National Rally, RN) on Monday, March 31, by the Paris Criminal Court. She was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which are to be served (the rest suspended), with the possibility of serving the sentence under electronic monitoring, a €100,000 fine, and five years of ineligibility from holding public office—with immediate enforceability.
The former president of the RN stood trial alongside 24 co-defendants for having set up, between 2004 and 2016, a system of remuneration designed to divert funds allocated by the European Union to Members of the European Parliament for paying parliamentary assistants, instead using them for party-related work.
On November 13 last year, the Paris prosecutor’s office had requested a five-year prison sentence against the former far-right party leader, three years of which would be suspended, a €300,000 fine, and a five-year ineligibility sentence with immediate enforceability.
Calling the prosecution’s demands “a very violent attack on democracy,” Le Pen had already denounced what she described as the politicization of the judiciary: “It is not the defendant who is on trial, but a political target,” she emphasized.
As a reminder, the pronouncement of immediate enforceability is a legal provision allowed under Article 471 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure: “Penalties pronounced under Articles 131-4-1 to 131-11 and 132-25 to 132-70 of the Penal Code may be declared provisionally enforceable.”
Immediate enforceability is an exception to the usual criminal law principle that an appeal suspends the sentence. It allows the criminal judge to order the immediate application of the sentence, regardless of any appeal the defendant may file.
As a result, Marine Le Pen is now barred from running in the 2027 presidential elections.
Marine Le Pen will appeal the judgment of the Paris Criminal Court. Her lawyer has announced that she will contest both the conviction and the penalties imposed.
The appeal could lead to the prison sentence and the fine being temporarily suspended until the proceedings are concluded. However, the ban on holding public office remains effective during the appeal process, as it was enforced through “provisional execution.” This means that Le Pen cannot run in the 2027 presidential election despite the appeal, unless an appeals court overturns the judgment in time.
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Source: e-summary by Insight EU Monitoring