Marine Le Pen did not wait for the court's verdict, but left the courtroom in Paris – clearly irritated – just before Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis went through all the penalties.
The verdict is a political bomb in France, where Le Pen has topped all opinion polls in recent times ahead of the 2027 election.
Justice has been completely set aside, she says herself on TV channel TF1 on Monday evening.
— What the judge is doing here is saying that I will be made ineligible to stand as a candidate with immediate effect, and I'm doing it just to prevent me from being elected president. If this isn't a political decision, then I don't know what is.
Worked on other things
And it's a decision she will appeal "as soon as possible" – with the French people behind her, she claims.
Millions of French people are furious.
This is a procedure that we thought only existed in authoritarian states.
The court believes that Le Pen and around 20 other party representatives have used EU funds illegally, when they received EU grants for their assistants in the EU Parliament, but actually let them work on completely different things back in France.
For example, an EU assistant effectively functioned as a bodyguard and chauffeur for party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen.
The verdict against Le Pen means that she will be banned from standing in elections for the next five years.
She is also fined 100,000 euros and sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended. If it is enforced, she is expected to serve it with an electronic tag, without being imprisoned.
Tough choice
Legal experts expect attempts to specifically lift the ban on standing as a candidate. Technically, it is still possible for the verdict to be overturned in time for the presidential election in two years.
Justice must be swift, but it will still be too late, says Le Pen on TF1, questioning the legitimacy of a future election winner in 2027 if she were to be acquitted after the election.
But give up politics, she will not do, says Le Pen, who still aims for the Élysée Palace.
There is a small chance. It's really small, but it's there.
Marine Le Pen came second in the presidential elections in both 2017 and 2022 and has been seen as a given candidate for the National Rally in 2027.
Now the party risks a tough choice between starting to prepare for someone else – for example, the popular party leader Bardella – or standing behind Le Pen in the ongoing process, with the risk that her verdict never changes.
Wiktor Nummelin/TT
Martin Yngve/TT
Facts: Marine Le Pen
TT
Marine Le Pen (born 1968) is the group leader of the National Rally's members in the French parliament since 2022. Until then, she was also the party leader since 2011, when she succeeded her father and party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen (1928–2025).
Marine Le Pen was an EU parliamentarian 2004–17 and has been a member of the French parliament since 2017.
She came third in the presidential election in 2012 and second in 2017 and 2022. In the latter two, she lost in a decisive round to current President Emmanuel Macron.
