Marine Le Pen faces crucial Paris appeals trial over misuse of EU funds

PARIS — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's political future hangs in the balance at an appeals trial in Paris which may damage her party's ambitions of radically changing France's direction through anti-immigration and nationalist policies.

Le Pen started answering the judges' questions Tuesday as she seeks to overturn a March ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016.

She was given a five-year ban from holding elected office, two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet and a further two-year suspended sentence.

Here's why the appeals trial could significantly impact France's political landscape:

France's 2027 presidential race is at stake

If she's able to run, Le Pen, 57, is expected to be among the top contenders in the 2027 presidential election, possibly the front-runner, according to opinion polls.

She finished runner-up to Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022, making her one of the most experienced senior politicians in the country.

Since 2024, her National Rally party has become the largest single political group in France's powerful lower house of parliament, even though it fell short of an outright majority.

If Le Pen is ruled ineligible, she has already designated her 30-year-old protégé, Jordan Bardella, as her successor in the presidential bid.

The fraud case involved money for hiring party aides

The National Rally and 11 of its officials, including Le Pen, are accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides instead to pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc's regulations.

Some EU money was used to pay for Le Pen's bodyguard, as well as her personal assistant. Another aide worked as a graphic designer.

Others worked as aides to party officials they had no employment contract with.

''That was how it was. It may have been reprehensible, questionable — the system was not ideal, I am aware of that — but all of those people were actually working," Le Pen said Tuesday.

The legal proceedings stem from a 2015 alert raised to French authorities about possible fraud by Martin Schulz, then-president of the European Parliament.

Le Pen acknowledges possible unintentional mistakes

Since the appeals trial opened last week, Le Pen's defense appeared focused on arguing the party may have made unintentional mistakes.

Faced with several emails mentioning details of internal meetings about hiring aides, Le Pen said staffing choices were aboveboard and justified by the multiple tasks required of the party. She also acknowledged some of the aides were ''shared'' by several elected officials for organization purposes — no matter what their contracts stated.

''We pooled a certain number of aides — though not all of them. I note that over this entire 10-year period, the European Parliament never advised us nor reproached us for having aides who were obviously working with several MEPs,'' Le Pen said Tuesday.

Regarding her bodyguard, ''again, the European Parliament was aware he was a security officer,'' she said.

March ruling says Le Pen part of ‘fraudulent system'

A Paris court ruled in March that Le Pen was at the heart of ''a fraudulent system'' that her party used to siphon off EU Parliament funds worth 2.9 million euros ($3.4 million). The ruling described the embezzlement as ''a democratic bypass'' unfair to competitors.

The judges handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of her party who, like Le Pen, previously served as European Parliament lawmakers. Also convicted were 12 people who served as parliamentary aides and three others. Some did not appeal the ruling.

Several options in Le Pen's trial

The five-week trial that started on Jan. 13 reexamines the case from scratch, reassessing evidence and hearing witnesses and defendants again. A new ruling will be issued at a later date, likely before summer.

Several scenarios are possible.

Le Pen could be cleared and possibly emerge strengthened, paving the way for her presidential campaign. Alternatively, she could be convicted and barred from running, forcing her to support Bardella's candidacy.

Another option is for Le Pen to be found guilty, but with a lighter sentence that still allows her to run.

Le Pen's party has criticized the judges

Le Pen denounced the March ruling as ''a democratic scandal.''

''The (judicial) system brought out the nuclear bomb,'' she said. ''And if it is using such a powerful weapon against us, it's obviously because we're about to win the elections.''

National party officials alleged it was a politically motivated decision implemented by what they describe as left-wing judges, which echoes language used by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2023 when he said prosecutors were engaged in a ''witch hunt'' to damage his campaign.