The trial on the RN parliamentary assistants affair could result in Marine Le Pen being ineligible to run. The candidate who is considering running for the 2027 presidential election could be prevented from doing so, just as she could get around a conviction.
This is a moment that promises to be decisive for Marine Le Pen and her political future. The former leader of the National Rally (RN) will appear in court in the trial of the RN assistants affair in the European Parliament from September 30, 2024. The affair has shaken the far-right party since it broke out in 2014 and now the Paris Criminal Court is preparing to judge her. Marine Le Pen, who is accused alongside 26 other people, will be tried for embezzlement of public funds and complicity in embezzlement of public funds. The consequences of a conviction could be severe for the leader of the RN who harbors presidential ambitions.
If convicted, Marine Le Pen faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of one million euros, all accompanied by a sentence of ineligibility of up to five years in accordance with Article 432-17 of the Penal Code. But since the figure of the party with the flame was exercising a public elective mandate at the time of the facts, the penalty of ineligibility can be up to ten years as provided for Article 131-26-1 of the Penal CodeA sentence of ineligibility of more than three years would prevent Marine Le Pen from running in the 2027 presidential election, but the candidate, who has already participated in this election three times, has not given up on a new attempt.
Marine Le Pen would, however, have solutions to avoid being ineligible at the end of the trial in the event of a conviction. She could appeal the decision, then appeal to the Court of Cassation if necessary. The sentences handed down would then be suspended, including the sentence of ineligibility, until the final decision. Note that a sentence of ineligibility can be accompanied by a “suspended sentence” and therefore not be effective. It can also, conversely, become a deprivation of civil rights accompanied by provisional execution, which would make the sentence applicable despite the possibility of appealing.
Marine Le Pen’s involvement will have to be proven
Marine Le Pen, who chaired the RN, which was called the National Front (FN) until 2018, from 2011 to 2021, is being questioned because she is suspected of having participated in the establishment of a fraudulent system of fictitious jobs concerning the parliamentary assistants of the MEPs of her party. The facts judged took place between 2004 and 2016, therefore partly under the presidency of the deputy of Hénin-Beaumont. Elements of the investigation and testimonies indicate that Marine Le Pen was aware of the system and oversaw it, this is the case of the statements of former MEPs Aymeric Chauprade, who has since retracted, and Sophie Montel or even the former parliamentary assistant to RN elected officials Nicolas Franchinard contacted by Mediapart.
Email exchanges, including Marine Le Pen’s office, on instructions regarding the use of funding allocated by the European Parliament to each elected official consulted by Mediapart, show that the instructions given to MEPs – namely to recruit a single assistant to work on parliamentary projects and to recruit others to work on other tasks, in particular for the benefit of the party – came from the leadership, and therefore probably from Marine Le Pen. But Marine Le Pen’s personal and direct involvement will have to be proven. François Bayrou, the president of the MoDem, tried in a similar case in February 2024, was acquitted “for the benefit of the doubt” due to the lack of evidence attesting to his involvement.
Marine Le Pen has always contested any fraudulent system of fictitious jobs. During hearings as part of the inquiry, she stated: “I was not the one who made the decisions and imposed this on the deputies and employees”. As for other documents such as tables demonstrating the centralised management of parliamentary funding by the FN treasurer, she absolved herself of all responsibility: “I would not say that I supervised this management, rather that I was informed about it”.
But if Marine Le Pen acknowledges having been aware of the management system, she is not specifically involved in the aforementioned email exchanges since all the exchanges went through her office according to Nicolas Franchinard’s testimony. “She is aware of everything but does not appear anywhere. There is a desire to keep her informed, but I have never received and I think that no one has ever received direct instructions from Marine Le Pen,” he declared to Mediapart adding however that “when we receive an email from the director of the office of the party president, for [les assistants parlementaires] It’s as if the leader himself is writing to us.”