French far-right leader in court charged with embezzling European funds

PARIS (AP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen denied breaking rules as she, her National Rally party and two dozen others appeared in court Monday on charges of embezzling European Parliament funds – a case that could doom her political ambitions.

Le Pen told reporters she remained confident as “we have not violated any political and regulatory rules of the European Parliament.” She promised to present “extremely serious and extremely solid arguments” to the judges.

She also said she intends to attend the trial's hearings “as often as possible” as she wants to advocate for MPs' “freedom” to use the resources they need to do their work.

As they arrived in the Paris courtroom full of journalists and the general public, Le Pen and other members of the National Assembly appeared smiling and relaxed, casually greeting each other and listening attentively to preliminary remarks from various lawyers.

A historical figure in the far-right party, former MEP Bruno Gollnisch, said in court that “the entire procedure contradicts the constitutional principle of separation of powers.”

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 in the next presidential election in 2027.

It comes at a time when a new government dominated by centrists and conservatives has just taken office following general elections in June and July. Some observers believe the trial could prevent National Assembly members, including Le Pen himself, from fully exercising their opposition role in parliament as they would be busy concentrating on defending the party.

Le Pen said she would speak at the National Assembly on Tuesday, where new Prime Minister Michel Barnier would give his general political speech.

Since stepping down as party leader three years ago, Le Pen has sought to position herself as a mainstream candidate who can appeal to a broader electorate. Their efforts have paid off as the party made significant gains in the recent elections at both European and national levels. But a guilty verdict could seriously undermine their attempt to take the Elysee building.

The National Rally and 27 of its top officials are accused of using funds intended for EU Parliament aides to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the rules of the 27th Blocs of nations violated. The National Rally was then called the National Front.

Le Pen, whose party has softened its anti-EU stance in recent years, denies wrongdoing.

“Parliamentary assistants do not work for Parliament. They are political assistants to elected officials, political by definition,” she said previously. “You ask me if I can define the tasks that I have assigned to my assistants; it depends on each person's abilities. Some wrote speeches for me, others took care of logistics and coordination.”

If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants face up to ten years in prison and fines of up to one million euros each. Additional penalties could also be imposed, such as the loss of civil rights or the ban from running for office – a scenario that could hamper or even destroy Le Pen's goal of running for the presidency again after Macron's term ends . Le Pen came second to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.

She was party leader from 2011 to 2021 and now leads the group of RN lawmakers in the French National Assembly.

Despite her denial, her party has already paid back one million euros to the European Parliament, said the parliament's lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve. Of this, 330,000 euros were directly related to Marine Le Pen's alleged misuse of funds.

A long-standing controversy

The court case follows a warning sent by Martin Schulz, then President of the European Parliament, to French authorities in 2015 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 opened a separate investigation into the matter.

The European Parliament's suspicions were heightened when a 2015 organizational chart revealed that 16 European lawmakers and 20 parliamentary assistants held official positions within the party – roles unrelated to their alleged duties as EU Parliament staff.

A subsequent investigation found that some assistants were contractually linked to MEPs other than those for whom they actually worked, suggesting a plan to divert European funds to pay party staff in France.

Accusation: misuse of public funds

Investigators concluded that Le Pen, as party leader, coordinated the allocation of parliamentary aid budgets and instructed MPs to hire people who held party positions. These individuals were portrayed as EU parliamentary assistants, but in reality they allegedly worked for the National Rally in various capacities.

The European Parliament's legal department is demanding 2.7 million euros in compensation for financial and reputational damage. This figure corresponds to the 3.7 million euros allegedly defrauded through the system, minus the 1 million euros already repaid.

In the 2014 European elections, the Front National won a record 24 MEP seats and came first with 24.8% of the vote, ahead of the center-right and the Socialists. This boom resulted in significant financial gain for the party, which was facing serious financial problems at the time.

An audit of the party's accounts between 2013 and 2016 showed that it had a deficit of €9.1 million at the end of 2016. However, the party still had a cash balance of 1.7 million euros and had lent Le Pen 1 million euros during his 2017 presidential campaign, and also holds loans of 87,000 euros to Cotelec, his support association.

At the time, the party also had debts of 9.4 million euros to a Russian bank, as well as a loan taken out in 2014 for 6 million euros.

Suspicion of systemic practice

The investigation uncovered numerous irregularities among prominent party members.

Thierry Légier, the long-time bodyguard of Le Pen's father Jean-Marie, was listed as his parliamentary assistant. However, his resume did not mention this role, nor did he mention it in his 2012 autobiography. Légier admitted during the investigation that he was not interviewed and signed his employment contract without fully understanding his official role.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who led the National Front from 1972 to 2011, will not appear in court alongside his former colleagues for health reasons. The now 96-year-old was deemed unfit to testify by a court in June. He has eleven previous convictions, including violence against a public official and hate speech.

He denied wrongdoing during his time as party leader and said the “pool” of assistants was well known. “I didn’t choose which assistants were assigned to me. That's what Marine Le Pen and others decided. I just signed the contracts,” he said.

After hearing a judge read out the charges in court Monday afternoon, Le Pen said she would “answer any questions the court may ask.”

The trial is scheduled to last until November 27th.

Vaux-Montagny reported from Lyon, France. Associated Press writer Diane Jeantet in Paris contributed to this report.