56-year-old Marine La Pen leaving court. (image-X/redstreamnet)

France: In a decision that will change French politics, a French court on Monday banned far-right leader Marine Le Pen for five years from running for office after she was found guilty of misappropriating EU funds. The court ordered for the sanction to come into force with immediate effect even if an appeal is lodged.

The court’s decision effectively puts an end to her desires of running in the 2027 presidential race amid growing political support for her in the country.

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In addition to that, the court also gave Le Pen a four-year prison sentence and a fine of 100,000 euros. Out of the four-year sentence, two years will be suspended, and the rest can be spent with an electronic tag rather than in custody. However, since she is expected to appeal the jail sentence, it will not apply now.

“It is not just Marine Le Pen who has been unfairly sentenced: it’s French democracy that has been executed,” Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally (RN), wrote on X. The 29-year-old will now be the face of the party’s presidential candidate in 2027.

Aujourd’hui, ce n’est pas seulement Marine Le Pen qui est injustement condamnée : c’est la démocratie française qui est exécutée.#JeSoutiensMarine

— Jordan Bardella (@J_Bardella) March 31, 2025

Apart from Le Pen, 24 other officials from the National Rally (RN) were accused of having used money intended for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who worked for the political party between 2004 and 2016, violating the 27-nation bloc’s regulations.

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Who Is Marine Le Pen?

The 56-year-old a French lawyer and politician became the head of the then National Front (FN), founded by her late father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was often accused of making racist and anti-Semitic comments, in 2011. Transforming the image of the party to make it a political force to watch out for, Le Pen came in third in the 2012 presidential polls.

She served as the party’s president from 2011 to 2021, and has been the member of the National Assembly for the 11th constituency Pas-de-Calais since 2017.

In both the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, Le Pen was runner-up to President Emmanuel Macron.

In 2024, she renamed her party as National Rally (RN) and pursued the policy of “dediabolisation” (de-demonisation), aiming to make it acceptable to a wider range of voters by expulsion of members accused of racism, antisemitism, and Petainism. Le Pen expelled her own father from the party in 2015 after he made controversial statements.

While she liberalises some political positions of the party by revoking its opposition to same sex partnerships, unconditional abortion, and support for death penalty, Le Pen maintained a strong grip on many of the same historical policies of her party, with more focus on strong anti-immigration, nationalist, and protectionist measures.

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In the subsequent legislative polls, the RN emerged as the largest single party in the National Assembly, though it did not have the outright majority.

Having established herself as an influential French leader, Le Pen backed a no-confidence vote that toppled the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier later in 2024.