What happens now with Marine Le Pen and her far-right party?

2025-04-02 15:56:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

French far-right politician Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds over a 12-year period.

In a ruling that has shaken French and European politics, a court in Paris has said she cannot run for any public political position - meaning she appears to be out of the running for the presidential election, which is due to be held in the spring of 2027 at the latest.

She left the court hearing without comment. Although she can appeal the decision – each step could take years – it is likely that this will be the end of her political career.

Le Pen, who ran against incumbent President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022, was considered the favorite to become France's first female president.

In 2022, she won 41.5 percent of the vote in the second round, marking the best result for a far-right candidate in France's presidential race.

With Macron barred from running for a third term, Le Pen was considered the most popular figure for the upcoming election, and early polls signaled that she would defeat other candidates from the left and right.

Whitening the Face of the National Front
Le Pen ascended to the top of the National Front in 2011 and rebranded the party as the National Rally, as well as attempting to whiten the face of the party by distancing it and herself from some of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen's racist and anti-Semitic statements in the past.

She continues to have a very critical approach to immigration and Islam and wants to remove France from NATO's integrated military command.

However, she has backed away from previous statements to remove the country from the European Union and the Eurozone.

Her party was granted a much-publicized loan from a Russian bank in 2014, and although she has been a supporter of Moscow in the past and has criticized EU sanctions against the Kremlin, she has supported France in its decision to accept Ukrainian refugees.

Following the March 31 decision, the Kremlin said it regretted the "violation of democratic norms."

European officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, had hoped she would move forward with taking on some task, perhaps following in the footsteps of Italy's right-wing Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who is described in Brussels as competent and cooperative.

However, they have spoken with caution, saying that the National Rally has always positioned itself on the far right and that the party is a main founder of the Patriots of Europe party, along with the ruling Hungarian party, Fidesz, whose leader, Viktor Orban, has immediately expressed support for Le Pen./REL