PARIS, Feb 3 (Reuters) – French prosecutors urged an appeals court on Tuesday to largely confirm a previous court’s ruling against French far-right officials in an EU embezzlement trial, without saying yet how this will apply to longtime party chief Marine Le Pen.
The initial ruling, in March last year, was a major setback for Le Pen as it banned her from running for office for five years, effective immediately.
If that ruling is fully confirmed, Le Pen will not be able to run in next year’s presidential election. If the ban is substantially shorter, or if there is no ban, she could still take part.
In last year’s ruling the court said that Le Pen had been “at the heart” of a scheme to misappropriate more than 4 million euros of EU funds and use them to pay the far-right party’s staff back home.
Le Pen told the court in her appeals trial that she had no sense of having done anything wrong, and had appealed against the ruling along with others from her party.
The prosecutor’s office wants public office bans to be decided this time too, Thierry Ramonatxo, Advocate General at the Paris General Prosecutor’s Office told the appeals court.
“We will seek office bans,” he said. “Parliamentary assistants worked for the party but were paid by Europe. That’s the stark reality.”
The prosecutors are expected to specify later in the day what sentences they will seek for each of the defendants, including Le Pen, with the ruling expected in the coming weeks or months.
In last year’s ruling, Le Pen also received a four-year prison sentence – two years of which are suspended and two years of which are to be served under home detention, as well as a 100,000-euro fine. These were not enforced immediately.
The RN and two dozen party figures were also found guilty of diverting European Parliament funds.
Le Pen has run three times for president.
If she cannot run next year, party president Jordan Bardella looks set to become the RN’s candidate.
Bardella, 30, has helped expand the RN’s appeal among younger voters though some analysts question whether he has the experience to win over the broader electorate the RN needs to secure victory in 2027.
The appeals court ruling is also subject to appeal though France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation.
(Reporting by Elissa Darwish; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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