Judges’ verdict on embezzlement challenge will determine whether far-right leader can stand in 2027 election
Defence lawyers for Marine Le Pen have told a Paris appeals court she did not orchestrate a system to misuse European parliament funds, at the close of an embezzlement trial that will determine whether the far-right leader can run in the 2027 French presidential election.
Le Pen’s lawyer, Sandra Chirac Kollarik, told the court on Wednesday: “At no moment did Marine Le Pen imagine that she broke the rules.” She added: “Never in her life would she have deliberately accepted making a false contract.”
Le Pen, 57, has denied organising a fake jobs scheme to embezzle European parliament funds. She told the court any job contracts for European parliament assistants were transparent and “we don’t have the feeling of having committed the slightest crime”.
The leader of the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) had been one of the top contenders for next year’s presidential election until last March, when her conviction in the fake jobs trial led to her being barred from running for public office.
