France’s Court of Appeal is set to deliver a crucial verdict regarding Marine Le Pen and members of her National Rally party, who are accused of misusing European Parliament funds for hiring aides between 2004 and 2016. The court’s decision, expected on Tuesday, will determine whether to uphold Le Pen’s 2025 conviction, which included a five-year ban from holding office and house arrest.
If the conviction is upheld, Le Pen, a leading figure of the European far right and a frontrunner in polls for the 2027 French presidential election, is likely to be barred from standing in the upcoming vote.
Le Pen has stated that she will not run if the court orders her to wear an electronic bracelet, emphasizing that she would only be a candidate if she is able to campaign freely. She told the LCI channel, “If I can be a candidate, I will be a candidate, provided that I am able to campaign. Because if I’m allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that wouldn’t be possible.”
Following a seven-year investigation, Le Pen was ordered to stand trial in 2023 alongside more than two dozen other defendants. She has pledged to challenge any decision barring her from running, saying she will pursue every available avenue of appeal.
Additional context includes France’s plans to increase nuclear warheads and lend nuclear aircraft to European allies, ongoing fractures within Europe’s hard right over the US-Israel conflict with Iran, and questions about the future of Europe’s hard-right populists.
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