On Monday, a French court convicted Marine Le Pen of embezzling European Union funds. It barred the French politician from holding office for five years.
The court found that Le Pen had siphoned off millions of euros in public funds while serving in the European Parliament. Evidently, she paid her political party’s staff with money intended for EU assistants. Prosecutors described it as deliberate and organized. The court agreed.
Le Pen denounced the verdict as a “political” move aimed at preventing her from running in the 2027 presidential election. She says she will appeal and asks that the court proceedings take place before the 2027 campaign. She would remain ineligible to be a candidate until the appeal is decided.
The court also sentenced Le Pen to four years’ imprisonment, with two to be served under house arrest and two suspended. It slapped her with a $108,200 fine.
Allies are calling the ruling political harassment. Opponents are fist-pumping.
Le Pen was born in 1968 into a family on the fringes of French politics. In 1972, her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, founded the National Front party. That group strongly supported French nationalism and controls on immigration. Critics accused it of fostering racism and anti-Semitism.
As a young woman, she studied law, became an attorney, and learned to argue her way through hostile rooms. In 2011, she took control of the party from her father. In 2015, she expelled him after he minimized the horrors of the Holocaust, claiming it was simply a “detail” of history.
She renamed the party the National Rally. She talked about the French way of life and promised to put French families’ needs ahead of those of the wealthy elite. (This position is called populism.) She advocated for stricter immigration laws, hijab bans, and leaving the European Union. Though firmly right-wing, she also appealed to those on the left and center who were fed up with mainstream politics.
Le Pen ran for president three times: 2012, 2017, and 2022. Many far-right and right-wing global leaders cheered her on, including Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni in Italy, and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders. They saw in her not only an ally but also a leader.
Each time, she climbed higher. In her final campaign, she was confident, calm, and media savvy. In 2022, Le Pen won more than 40% of the vote in a runoff against Emmanuel Macron.
When Le Pen lost in 2022, she didn’t vanish. She regrouped, stayed present in parliament, and prepared for 2027. Polls had her leading. Incumbent Macron cannot run again.
Then, in a real-life example of “be sure your sin will find you out,” came Monday’s verdict. (Numbers 32:23)
Even in disgrace, Le Pen remains one of the most important political figures of her time. She took a family name that once evoked hatred and transformed it into a serious channel for national leadership. Under her leadership, the National Rally became the largest party last year in France’s lower house of parliament.
Whether she returns after her ban, fades into silence, or reinvents herself again, Le Pen’s mark—for good or ill—is permanent.
