On Monday, a French court found the far-right politician Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement, sentencing her to four years’ imprisonment and a five-year ban from seeking elected office.
It was a verdict heard the world over, as the ruling essentially bars the three-time French presidential hopeful and a linchpin of Europe’s far right from competing in France’s 2027 presidential race —which was shaping up to be her best shot yet at the country’s top job.
Few rejoiced at the news. Her supporters say she’s being deliberately silenced, while some of her critics fear far-reaching political consequences of the judges’ decision.
As the dust settles after years of legal preparations, a months-long high-profile trial, and an hours-long reading of a detailed legal judgment, France’s political earthquake may be just beginning.
Crime and punishment
Le Pen’s party has vowed to pursue “all possible remedies” to the sentence, and Le Pen has already filed an appeal. The Paris Court of Appeal said on Tuesday that it could issue a decision as soon as the summer of 2026. Until then, the ban is effective immediately, but does not pertain to Le Pen’s position as lawmaker, which she is currently permitted to retain.
Monday’s decision was taken by three judges at a Paris court, and based on evidence presented by prosecutors. The chief judge of Le Pen’s trial made it clear she had no doubt the far-right politician was guilty of overseeing a fake jobs scheme at the European Parliament, which saw millions of euros in EU taxpayers’ money diverted to fund national party business between 2004 and 2016. She added that Le Pen and her party’s consistent denial of any wrongdoing showed a risk of re-offending.
Paris-based law professor Julien Boudon told DW that the five-year ban on running for office handed down to Le Pen followed French legislation and legal precedents on cases of embezzlement by politicians.
“It’s totally standard,” Boudon said, adding he was “not at all surprised.”
French lawmakers had voted to toughen punishments for corruption following a 2016 scandal involving former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, who was eventually convicted of tax fraud. Those laws made electoral bans the penalty for such crimes, and Le Pen herself has in the past pushed for harsher sentences for those found guilty of misusing public funds.
Law professor Boudon also noted that, had judges let Le Pen off with a shorter-than-standard ban, they would have faced even harsher accusations of politicizing judicial processes than they do already.
Far-right fury
Meanwhile, accusations of violating the rule of law and politicizing legal processes have been pouring in domestically and abroad. On Tuesday, Le Pen’s heir apparent Jordan Bardella blasted what he called the “tyranny of judges which contravenes voter freedom.”
Similar claims echoed from Le Pen’s political allies around the world.
Matteo Salvini from Italy’s far-right Lega party alleged that this was an attempt to “remove [Le Pen] from political life,” and “a declaration of war,” while Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro alleged on X that the French left were using “judicial activism to win elections without a real opposition.”
Critics on the left and right
But critics of the ruling can be found across the political spectrum. Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who heads up the leftist political group Mera25, slammed what he called “mind-boggling hypocrisy” on X.
“When Turkey’s courts ban Erdogan’s frontrunning presidential opponent, the liberal mind rebels and rejects forthwith Erdogan’s argument that the law is the law. When France’s courts do the same, the liberal mind rejoices and parrots ‘the law is the law,'” he wrote on Monday.
Istanbul-based researcher Aybike Mergen called the comparison “misleading.” While the World Justice Project ranks France 22nd globally in its rule of law index — below Germany but above the United States — Turkey is ranked 117th, sandwiched between Honduras and Mexico.
In Strasbourg, the head of the center-right Les Republicains faction in the European Parliament, meanwhile, called Monday a “dark day for French democracy” and said the judges’ verdict represented a “major interference” in French politics.
“I’ve debated the National Rally in every campaign I’ve led. Like every French person who cares about democracy, I want our differences to be resolved through voters’ decisions,” Francois-Xavier Ballamy wrote on X.
Lose-lose for centrists?
Bellamy’s statement sums up the fear among many other centrists: That the argument opposing the ideas which have made Marine Le Pen so popular is far from over, and that Monday’s ruling will hinder efforts to win back popularity at the ballot box.
Analyst Camille Lons said Monday’s court decision would help far-right politicians back their assertions that the system is “rigged against them,” adding that this “narrative” could “galvanize their base and strengthen their support heading into 2027.”
The European Council on Foreign Relations policy fellow added that elsewhere in the world, the French verdict will likely “be framed as further evidence of European overreach and democratic decay.”
Judicial independence in the spotlight
French law professor Boudon said he was unimpressed by critics of the court ruling, regardless of their political color. “It’s scandalous to say this is a political decision. It’s an attack on judges’ honor and probity,” he told DW.
“This decision is precisely the respect for the rule of law,” he said, adding that “an elected politician who breaks the law must be accountable.”
Le Pen’s case is already sparking debate on possible reforms to the country’s anti-corruption penalties.
Centrist French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told parliamentarians on Tuesday that a “reflection” on the way the law currently applies should be led, according to French newspaper Le Monde. But, he added, he had no intention of “mixing up discussions” on a particular judgment with a reflection on the overall state of the law.
Edited by: Maren Sass
