The appeal trial of Marine Le Pen, ten other executives of the Rassemblement National (RN), and the party itself has been underway since January 13th before the Paris Court of Appeal in the case known as the alleged fictitious European parliamentary assistants case. The case concerns the alleged use of public funds allocated by the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016 to pay assistants who were supposed to be working for European elected representatives but who, according to the prosecution, were in fact working for the French national right-wing party.
At the first trial in March 2025, Marine Le Pen was found guilty of misappropriation of public funds and sentenced to four years in prison (two of which were suspended), a fine of €100,000 and, most significantly, five years of ineligibility with immediate effect, a decision that immediately jeopardised her ambitions for the 2027 presidential election.
The appeal trial was held within an extremely short judicial timeframe, contrary to usual practice, given the high stakes involved. Le Pen knows that her political future is at stake here: if the Court of Appeal confirms a significant period of ineligibility, she could be permanently barred from running for president.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, the proceedings were marked by the closing arguments of the public prosecutor, which came after several weeks of hearings and pleadings by the lawyers of the European Parliament, a civil party in the case. Knowing that the closing arguments were to last six hours, the two advocates general were keen to quickly dispel the suspense by announcing clearly from the outset that they would request confirmation of the convictions handed down in the first instance, including the ban on standing for election imposed on Le Pen and several RN executives.
The advocates general criticised the strategy of some of the defendants to delegitimise the justice system, arguing that this was part of a broader attempt to challenge the very foundations of the trial and to delay or weaken the judgement.
This afternoon’s closing arguments come at a time of significant political consequence: confirmation of the disqualification sentences or an increase in the penalties would confirm Marine Le Pen’s ban from running for president. Conversely, a reduction in the penalties could allow her to regain her political rights before 2027—or at least keep open the possibility of a subsequent appeal to the Court of Cassation, as Le Pen announced several months ago her intention to exhaust all legal remedies.
During the appeal trial, Le Pen denied the existence of an organised ‘system’ of embezzlement, while conceding during certain hearings that errors may have been made in the management of parliamentary assistants, but without any organised fraudulent intent. This is not the version accepted by the advocates general. “Once the organisation is structured, the system exists,” argued one of the two magistrates, who believes that the three weeks of hearings revealed “a fraudulent organisation set up to finance the FN [Front National; the previous name of what is now the RN]” and “a system designed to embezzle public funds in defiance of the rules of probity and public administration.” For his part, the second advocate general opined, “It does not take a genius to understand that parliamentary funds are not intended to finance any party whatsoever.”
Le Pen said she would not speak after the closing arguments. Although she was present in the courtroom, she decided not to speak at the end of the day. “It’s not up to me to decide; I don’t hold the cards,” she told reporters. No doubt she will need silence to come to terms with what is likely to be a harsh verdict.
After this important closing statement, the floor should be returned to the defence lawyers, who will continue to plead their case until the end of the trial, scheduled for February 12th. Once the proceedings are closed, the Court of Appeal will deliver its judgement, which is expected by summer 2026. The aim for the RN is to have a clear roadmap before the launch of the presidential campaign in autumn 2026.
