French prosecutors seek five-year prison sentence for Marine Le Pen

Guilty verdict could prevent her from running for president in 2027 election

Marine Le Pen arrives for her trial on suspicion of embezzlement of EU funds at a court in Paris. AFP

Paris prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence and ban from public office for Marine Le Pen in a case that accuses the far-right leader of embezzling EU funds.

She is standing alongside more than 20 others in the trial, which is taking place almost a decade after initial investigations started.

It comes as Ms Le Pen’s influence on French politics has never been greater with her effectively able to wield a veto over policies set by Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a deeply divided National Assembly. In addition to potentially jeopardising her personal political ambitions, the case threatens to derail her party’s plans to build credibility and convince French voters it will be ready to govern by the next presidential race in 2027.

On Wednesday, prosecutors Louise Neyton and Nicolas Barret requested a €300,000 ($316,860) fine, five years in prison and an ineligibility sentence against Ms Le Pen, with provisional execution. If the court finds her guilty of the charges with this provisional execution, she will not be able to run in the presidential vote, which many believe she can win, even if she appeals the judgment.

While the Paris criminal court is not expected to issue a ruling for another few months, the prosecutors’ recommendations were a widely awaited part of a trial that began six weeks ago.

“I note that the prosecution is being extremely outrageous in its demands, particularly with the request for provisional execution, which it wants to impose on everyone being prosecuted,” Ms Le Pen said while leaving court.

Marine Le Pen through the years – in pictures

French far-right politician and president of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, with his wife Pierrette Lalanne and daughter Marine Le Pen, attend a demonstration in Paris in September 1982. All photos: Getty Images

Jean-Marie Le Pen with his daughters Yann, Marine and Marie-Caroline in Saint-Cloud, France, in 1986.

Jean-Marie Le Pen with daughter Marine after the first round of voting in the 1995 French presidential election.

Marine Le Pen salutes party members, with her father to the right, as she is named Front National's new leader at a party conference in January 2011.

Marine Le Pen delivers a speech during the party's annual celebration of Joan of Arc in May 2011 in Paris.

Marine Le Pen after giving a speech during the far-right party's May Day demonstration in Paris in 2012.

Marine Le Pen votes during her party's congress in March 2018 at the Grand Palais in Lille.

Marine Le Pen and former US president Donald Trump's adviser, Steve Bannon, give a joint press conference at the Front National party's annual congress in March 2018.

Marine Le Pen at a meeting of populist far-right party leaders at Wenceslas Square in Prague, Czech Republic, in April 2019.

Marine Le Pen launches her presidential campaign in Reims, France, in February.

Marine Le Pen poses with supporters as she leaves a polling station in Henin-Beaumont after casting her ballot for the second round of the presidential elections.

Throughout the trial, Ms Le Pen and other party members elected to the European Parliament were accused of improperly using a budget allocation for EU aides. As well as being accused of personally embezzling about €474,000 between 2009 and 2016 in relation to four of her aides, Ms Le Pen is also accused of encouraging other party members to misuse EU funds. She denied the allegations when testifying in the case last month.

Prosecutors say the aides focused on work for the then-National Front in France rather than EU affairs as their contracts specified. The indictment highlights that one of Ms Le Pen’s aides was in fact working for her father as a personal assistant. On Wednesday, Ms Neyton highlighted the party’s “particularly tricky” financial situation at the time.

That meant “the EU funds seemed like a godsend and were used as such”, she said. “And as we’ve seen, there were no checks on the actual work carried out by the parliamentary aides before 2014-2015. It was too tempting,” Ms Neyton added.

Attorneys for Ms Le Pen, the National Rally and other defendants will get to make their closing arguments in the coming days and Paris judges will then announce the date they plan to issue their ruling.