The Memo: Marine Le Pen faces five-year ban from French public office following embezzlement conviction

Continental affairs have been rather turbulent of late, especially with the recurring melodrama of French politics.In amongst the New Popular Front’s late election surge in 2024 and the steep rise of 29-year far-right firebrand Jordan Bardella, it’s perhaps the most recent episode that comes as the most surprising of them all. Infamously prominent National Rally (RN) politician Marine Le Pen was found guilty at the end of March for embezzling EU funds and has now been handed a five-year ban from running for public office. This means she is ruled out of the nation’s next presidential election in 2027, despite holding a comfortable lead over rivals in the polls. On top of this, she has also been handed a four-year prison sentence, two of which will be suspended. 

To make a long story short, Le Pen and 27 other members of RN went on trial in November for financial embezzlement following accusations that she used European Parliament money to pay her own party officials in France. While the funds were legally permitted to be taken, the case has become known as a fake jobs scam as the money was not used as it should have been, i.e. paying EU staff. It’s estimated that the amount of embezzled funds totalled a whopping €7 million. Many of Le Pen’s supporters have sought to weaponise the sentencing, claiming that the ban from holding a political position is evidence of an attempt to quash Le Pen and her campaign. Le Pen herself claims that the verdict is a “witch hunt,” and will attempt to appeal the ruling.