French opposition leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for political office following her conviction — along with several others in France’s Right-leaning National Rally Party — on charges of embezzling public funds.
The charges against Le Pen involved funding from the European Parliament to her party — some of which prosecutors said she had used to pay her own personal assistant and bodyguard.
Prosecutors asked that Le Pen receive two years in prison and five years of political ineligibility — the latter ensuring that she would not be able to run for president in 2027, a race she is currently favored to win.
Le Pen, who claimed prior to her sentencing that barring her from running would amount to “political death,” came in second to current French President Emmanuel Macron in the last two elections, and her party has been steadily gaining support. She argued that the court’s move to declare her ineligible to run would effectively disenfranchise millions of voters.
“There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election,” she said ahead of the sentencing. She stormed out of the courtroom on Monday before her full sentence had been announced.
Le Pen, who claimed prior to the sentencing that the prosecution’s goal had been to sideline her in the 2027 election, doubled down in a Monday appearance on French television network TF1: “It was a political decision that was made. The magistrate took it upon herself to implement the provisional execution of the ineligibility, to render my appeal on this matter useless in order to prevent me from standing and being elected President of the Republic.”
C’est une décision politique qui a été rendue.
La magistrate a assumé de mettre en œuvre l'exécution provisoire de l'inéligibilité, de rendre mon appel inutile sur ce sujet pour m'empêcher de me présenter et d'être élue présidente de la République. pic.twitter.com/N7TlTc4r9f
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) March 31, 2025
Le Pen is not the only person to believe that the move was primarily political. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini summed up his thoughts in a post on X, saying, “Those who fear the judgment of voters often seek reassurance from the courts. In Paris, they have condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to remove her from political life. A bad situation that is also being observed in other countries such as Romania. What is happening against @MLP_officiel is a declaration of war from Brussels, at a time when the belligerent impulses of Von der Leyen and Macron are terrifying. We are not intimidated, we are not stopped: full speed ahead, my friend!”
Ceux qui craignent le jugement des électeurs cherchent souvent à se rassurer par celui des tribunaux.
À Paris, ils ont condamné Marine Le Pen et aimeraient l’écarter de la vie politique. Un mauvais film que l’on observe également dans d’autres pays comme la Roumanie.
Ce qui se…— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) March 31, 2025
A number also pointed out via X that what had happened to Le Pen was exactly what Vice President JD Vance had been sounding the alarm about when he said that the major threats Europe faced would come from within.
“Less than 2 months after @JDVance warned that the greatest threat to Europe was from within, leftists in France have banned Marine Le Pen from running for President despite being the leading candidate. Fill up the JD Vance was right jar!”
Less than 2 months after @JDVance warned that the greatest threat to Europe was from within, leftists in France have banned Marine Le Pen from running for President despite being the leading candidate. Fill up the JD Vance was right jar! pic.twitter.com/J0kylN0R8F
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) March 31, 2025
