RN trial: what is Marine Le Pen accused of in the European parliamentary assistants affair?

It is a trial that could have consequences on the political landscape. Marine Le Pen and 24 other members of the National Rally will appear this Monday in the case of European parliamentary assistants. They are accused of having used the money paid by Europe to pay employees who worked mainly for the party and not for the deputies elected in Brussels.

Following the example of Thierry Légier. For twelve years, he provided security for Marine Le Pen and was almost always in her wake. Except that in 2011, the bodyguard was employed as a parliamentary assistant and paid by the European Parliament. Justice thus suspects the National Rally of having set up a vast system of embezzlement of public funds between 2004 and 2016. Eleven MEPs, former or current, are said to have hired parliamentary collaborators who in fact essentially worked for the party.

“The parliamentary assistants, for the most part, were in the organization chart of the National Rally, therefore had functions which were totally incompatible with a real activity of parliamentary assistant of a European deputy”points out Me Patrick Maisonneuve, lawyer for the European Parliament.

A parliamentary assistant cannot carry out any mission directly linked to the party

Nathalie Devillier; expert at the European Commission

Among these collaborators, some have now become deputies, like Julien Odoul. After having denied it for a long time, the RN now recognizes that they also had a political role. But for the party spokesperson, nothing prohibited it: “MPs and their colleagues are not employees of the European Parliament. We have a single employer. They are our voters”, plaide Alexandre Reserves.

Since 2009, however, the texts have been clear. According to this European regulation, parliamentary assistants “carry out tasks which are directly linked to the work carried out by a Member in the exercise of his functions in the European Parliament”.

“A parliamentary assistant is the interface between the citizen, the MEP and the local authorities of his party. But in reality, he cannot carry out any mission directly linked to the party”explains Nathalie Devillier, expert for the European Commission.

In its defense, the National Rally puts forward another argument. “All political blocs are affected by these procedures, the left, the former presidential majority and the National Rally. There is really a difference in conception on the role and work of parliamentary assistants. And this difference takes place between France and the European institutions”says Jordan Bardella, current president of the party.

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In February, several MoDem elected officials, including François Bayrou, were in fact judged for the same facts, but on a completely different scale: barely €300,000 in damage for the centrist party, compared to nearly 7 million for the RN, for embezzlement of public funds.

Marine Le Pen and the 24 other defendants face up to ten years in prison, a fine of 1 million euros and ten years of ineligibility. The trial will end on November 29.