Le Pen Risks Missing French Presidential Race as Prosecutors Seek Ban

Gaspard Sebag
·3-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s right-wing National Rally party, risks missing out on the nation’s next presidential race after prosecutors sought an immediate five-year ban on her running for office at the end of an embezzlement trial.

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Le Pen and her party should be convicted for diverting millions of euros in European Union funds to build up a platform in France, Paris prosecutors Louise Neyton and Nicolas Barret said as they made their closing arguments Wednesday. Prosecutors also sought a two-year jail term for Le Pen, but suggested it could be served with an electronic bracelet, as well as a €300,000 ($316,890) fine.

While the Paris criminal court isn’t expected to issue a ruling for another few months, the prosecutors’ recommendations were a widely-awaited part of a trial that began some six weeks ago. Unless Paris judges order an immediately-applicable election ban, challenging the verdict would typically put the sentence on hold until all appeals are exhausted.

The trial comes as Le Pen’s influence on French politics has never been greater with her able to wield a de-facto veto over policies set by Prime Minister Michel Barnier amid a deeply divided National Assembly. In addition to potentially jeopardizing Le Pen’s personal political ambitions, the case threatens to derail her party’s plans to build credibility and convince French voters it will be ready to govern by the next presidential race in 2027.

Throughout the trial, Le Pen and other party members elected to the European Parliament were accused of improperly using a budget allocation for EU aides. As well as being accused of personally embezzling about €474,000 between 2009 and 2016 in relation to four of her aides, Le Pen is also accused of encouraging other party members to misuse EU funds. She denied the allegations when testifying in the case last month.

Le Pen spoke to reporters while leaving court. She said that it was an attempt to prevent her from running again.

“I believe that the public prosecutor’s office is trying to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for the people they want,” she said.

‘A Godsend’

Prosecutors say the aides focused on work for the then-National Front in France rather than EU affairs as their contracts specified. The indictment highlights that one of the Le Pen aides was in fact working for her father as a personal assistant. On Wednesday, Neyton highlighted the party’s “particularly tricky” financial situation at the time.

That meant “the EU funds seemed like a godsend and were used as such,” she said. “And as we’ve seen, there were no checks on the actual work carried out by the parliamentary aides before 2014-2015. It was too tempting.”

Attorneys for Le Pen, the National Rally and other defendants will get to make their closing arguments in the coming days and Paris judges will then announce the date they plan to issue their ruling.

--With assistance from Ania Nussbaum and Kavita Mokha.

(Updates with Le Pen comment outside court from the sixth paragraph)

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