Marine Le Pen faces charges for embezzlement

In the affair surrounding possible fictitious employment of employees in the European Parliament, the Paris public prosecutor’s office has called for a trial against Marine Le Pen and other French right-wing nationalists.

The court accuses them of embezzling public funds, as it was said on Friday. Le Pen has always denied the allegations.

The allegations relate to the years 2004 to 2016 and are directed against the Rassemblement National party (formerly Front National), then MPs and assistants. Party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen is also among the accused. If a trial takes place, the accused face ten years in prison and fines.

The affair has burdened Le Pen and her party for years. This concerns the possible fictitious employment of assistants to several French MEPs. The central accusation is that Le Pen’s party received money from the European Parliament for parliamentary assistants who actually worked for the party.

Prosecutors want to charge Le Pen with embezzlement

It’s about the years 2004 to 2016: The Front National is said to have used EU funds for party purposes. Now the Paris public prosecutor’s office is pushing for a trial – also against Marine Le Pen.

According to the wishes of the French public prosecutor, the French right-wing politician Marine Le Pen is to stand trial. The public prosecutor in Paris demanded that her party and a total of 27 suspects be put on trial. The investigative authority accuses them of embezzling public EU funds. Le Pen has always denied the allegations.

The allegations relate to the years 2004 to 2016 and are directed against the Rassemblement National party (formerly Front National), then MPs and assistants. Party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen is also among the accused. If a trial takes place, the accused face ten years in prison and fines.

Money against foreclosure

Only the day before it became known that Le Pen had recently paid back around 330,000 euros to the EU Parliament in this matter. However, she only did this to avoid foreclosure, emphasized her lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut. “It in no way means an acknowledgment of the EU Parliament’s allegations,” he said. Le Pen did no wrong in hiring her parliamentary assistants.

The affair became known in 2014. The EU Parliament demanded a total of 339,000 euros back for the two employees who are said to have worked not for the parliament but for the party. The EU Parliament later cut Le Pen half of her salary because of this. In 2017, Le Pen left the EU Parliament after winning a seat in the French National Assembly.

In addition to Le Pen, other EU MPs from her party are said to have used EU funds for parliamentary assistants and for party purposes. The examining judges will now decide whether there will be a trial.

Le Pen recently confirmed that she wanted to run for the fourth time in the 2027 presidential election. She described herself as the “natural candidate” of her camp; in 2022 she lost in the runoff election with 41 percent against Emmanuel Macron, who cannot run again in 2027 after two terms in office.

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