The French far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, her National Rally (RN) party and two dozen others went on trial on Monday, September 30, 2024, on charges of embezzling money from the European parliament.
The National Rally and some of its top officials have been accused of having used money meant for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations.
The National Rally was called National Front at the time.
The trial is scheduled to last until November 27, 2024.
The nine-week trial will be closely watched by Le Pen’s political rivals as she is a strong contender in the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron when the next presidential election takes place in 2027.
The legal proceedings stem from a 2015 alert raised by Martin Schulz, then-President of the European Parliament, to French authorities about possible fraudulent use of European funds by members of the National Front.
Schulz also referred the case to the European Anti-Fraud Office, which launched a separate probe into the matter.
The European Parliament’s suspicions were further heightened when a 2015 organizational chart showed that 16 European lawmakers and 20 parliamentary assistants held official positions within the party — roles unrelated to their supposed duties as EU parliamentary staff.
A subsequent investigation found that some assistants were contractually linked to different MEPs than the ones they were actually working for, suggesting a scheme to divert European funds to pay party employees in France.
Investigating judges concluded that Le Pen, as party leader, orchestrated the allocation of parliamentary assistance budgets and instructed MEPs to hire individuals holding party positions. These individuals were presented as EU parliamentary assistants, but in reality, were allegedly working for the National Rally in various capacities.
Evidence against the party includes contracts for periods as short as a single day to exploit spending allowances.
One message from the former party treasurer Wallerand de Saint-Just warned about its disastrous finances, writing: “We won’t get out of this without making significant savings thanks to the European parliament.”
The RN has already paid back €1m, which it insists is not an admission of guilt.
The party has for years called the investigation a form of “persecution” and political abuse of the justice system.
Le Pen Denies Wrongdoing
Le Pen told reporters that she remained confident as “we have not violated any political and regulatory rules of the European Parliament.”
She vowed to present the judges with “extremely serious and extremely solid arguments.″
She also said that she intended to attend the trial’s hearings “as much as possible” as she wants to advocate for the “freedom” of members of parliament to use the means they need to do their job.
“Parliamentary assistants do not work for the Parliament. They are political assistants to elected officials, political by definition,” she previously said.
“You ask me if I can define the tasks I assigned to my assistants; it depends on each person’s skills. Some wrote speeches for me, and some handled logistics and coordination.”
Marine Le Pen
If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to 1 million euros ($1.1 million) each.
Additional penalties, such as the loss of civil rights or ineligibility to run for office, could also be imposed, a scenario that could hamper, or even destroy, Le Pen’s goal to mount another presidential bid after Macron’s term ends.
Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.
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