Five years in prison, including three years suspended, and five years of ineligibility were requested against Marine Le Pen. The reactions following this announcement are one after the other and the future of the RN is being questioned.
Marine Le Pen, who has the 2027 presidential election in her sights, had to turn her gaze towards another decisive meeting: the trial of the National Front (FN) assistants in the European Parliament. The affair could destroy her hopes and chances of winning the election and even participating in it… In this affair concerning suspicions of fictitious jobs in the European Parliament, the member of the National Rally (RN) is on trial for embezzlement and concealment of public funds alongside 24 other party members for total damage estimated at nearly 7 million euros. After seven weeks of hearings, it was time for requisitions on Wednesday November 13. The Paris prosecutor's office requested a sentence of ineligibility for all the defendants, including Marine Le Pen. This “is modulated in its duration” depending on the profiles. Thus, five years of ineligibility were required against Marine Le Pen, as well as five years in prison, including three years suspended.
If during the first hearings Marine Le Pen had shown herself to be confident, declaring that she would be able to prove her innocence, over the course of the trial the figurehead of the far-right party became disillusioned after sometimes very difficult hearings. Far from the apparent serenity at the start of the trial, politics now seems convinced that it will soon be condemned. “We are subject to a presumption of guilt,” she said during a hearing, believing that the “opinion” of the judges “was already made and that the defense arguments were somewhat evacuated as if they represented nothing, that they were almost a nuisance.” At the end of the requisitions on Wednesday evening, Marine Le Pen denounced the behavior of the prosecution, according to her, “extremely outrageous in its requisitions”, and considered that there was a “desire to ruin the party [ndlr. Rassemblement national]”.
Marine Le Pen ineligible in 2027?
While five years of ineligibility, with provisional execution, were required on Wednesday November 13 against Marine Le Pen, the main person concerned said she was already condemned. It must be said that in this type of trial, the requisitions are often followed. The penalty of ineligibility being “with provisional execution”, this means that, in the event that the court follows these requisitions, Marine Le Pen will have to carry out this sentence as soon as the final judgment falls, even if she appeals.
In this case, Marine Le Pen would not be able to participate in the next presidential election, unless another more favorable verdict is appealed. But another trial must still be organized before 2027…
Marine Le Pen's involvement must be proven
Marine Le Pen, who chaired the RN called National Front until 2018, from 2011 to 2021, is implicated, because she is suspected of having participated in the establishment of a fraudulent system of fictitious jobs concerning parliamentary assistants of MEPs from his party. The facts judged took place between 2004 and 2016, therefore partly under the presidency of the member for Hénin-Beaumont. Investigation elements and testimonies indicate that Marine Le Pen was aware of the system and oversaw it, this is the case of the declarations of former MEPs Aymeric Chauprade, who has since withdrawn, and Sophie Montel or even of the former parliamentary assistant to elected RN officials, Nicolas Franchinard, contacted by Mediapart.
Exchanges of emails, including Marine Le Pen's office, on instructions concerning the use of funding allocated by the European Parliament to each elected official, consulted by Médiapart, show that the instructions given to MEPs – namely recruiting a single assistant to work on parliamentary projects and recruiting others to work on tasks beneficial to the party – came from the management, and therefore probably from Marine Le Pen . But the personal and direct involvement of Marine Le Pen must be proven. François Bayrou, the president of MoDem, tried in a similar case in February 2024, was acquitted “with the benefit of the doubt” due to insufficient evidence attesting to his involvement.
Marine Le Pen has always contested any fraudulent system of fictitious employment. During hearings as part of the investigation, she said: “It was not me who made the decisions and imposed this on deputies and employees.” As for other documents such as tables demonstrating the centralized management of parliamentary funding by the treasurer of the FN, she absolved herself of all responsibilities without denying being aware of this operation: “I would not say that I supervised this management rather that I was informed of it.
The fact remains that Marine Le Pen is not specifically involved in the aforementioned email exchanges since all the exchanges went through her office according to the testimony of Nicolas Franchinard. “She is aware of everything but appears nowhere,” he summarized to Médiapart.
09:45 – Eric Zemmour and Marion Maréchal provide their support to Marine Le Pen
Following the announcement of the requisitions against Marine Le Pen, the president of Reconquête Éric Zemmour declared that “it is surely not up to justice to decide who can be a candidate in the presidential election”, going beyond “the disagreements” which opposed the two former presidential candidates. Same story from Marion Maréchal, niece of the MP, who, for her part, drew a parallel with the Fillon affair. “If the judges confirm the ineligibility, they will decide again on the presidential election poster in place of the French,” she wrote on X.
09:30 – #JeSoutiensMarine, the RN rises behind Marine Le Pen
Apart from the reaction of Jordan Bardella, a #JeSoutiensMarine made the rounds on Twitter to support the leader of the RN deputies. Several MPs then published photos of themselves with Marine Le Pen at their side, such as party spokesperson Laure Lavalette, MP Sébastien Chenu and MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy.
09:15 – Marine Le Pen's political future in danger?
Five years of ineligibility were required against Marine Le Pen. The prosecution considers that “provisional execution” of this sentence is necessary. If the court follows the prosecution's requisitions, Marine Le Pen will not be able to run in 2027, even if she appeals. She should nevertheless remain a deputy because she is protected by her parliamentary status until the end of her mandate. However, she would not be able to run again in her constituency in June 2029. If the court decides not to follow the prosecution's requisitions, by condemning Marine Le Pen without provisional execution, the penalty of ineligibility would then be suspended in the event of an appeal until 'to a new trial. Then, if she is convicted in second instance, she would have to file an appeal in cassation, also suspensive. The latter could take several months, or even several years. It is therefore still possible that there will be no final decision in this matter before the 2027 presidential election. If Marine Le Pen became President of the Republic, the procedure would be suspended for the duration of her mandate.
08:45 – The final decision will have to wait
The trial will resume Monday, November 18 with defense arguments scheduled until Wednesday, November 27. The court will then surely take several months before rendering its final decision. “If we compare the usual delays of justice to Marine Le Pen's political agenda, we can imagine that the decision of the current trial would be rendered within three months, that an appeal trial would be held a year later, with another three months before the rendering of a decision on appeal – approximately June 2026”, estimated AFP this Wednesday.
08:26 – Sacha Houlié in favor of a conviction of the RN
If Gérald Darmanin was indignant at the possible penalty of ineligibility which could affect Marine Le Pen, the reactions are not the same in the Macronist camp. Sacha Houlié, former president of the law commission, believes that “the law of the Republic applies to everyone. To all defendants. To all delinquents”. “For the RN, criminal law and justice are lax…until they themselves are the defendants! The additional penalty of ineligibility is by law, that is to say automatic when the offense of embezzlement of public funds is retained. It is French law,” he added.
08:19 – Gérald Darmanin “shocked” by the requisitions against Marine Le Pen
While five years of ineligibility and five years in prison, three of which were suspended, were required against Marine Le Pen, reactions are multiplying following the envisaged sentence. Unexpected support was heard. Gérald Darmanin, former Minister of the Interior, considered that it would be “shocking” if the leader of the RN was “deemed ineligible”. “Fighting Madame Le Pen is done at the ballot box, not elsewhere. If the court judges that she must be condemned, she cannot be condemned electorally, without the expression of the People,” he justified.
