Lawfare, French style: Marine Le Pen sentenced and banned from running for five years
They tried it on Trump – boy, did they ever try. But a couple of things stopped them, including the fact that in the US a convicted felon can run for office.
Now the French have had greater success – at least for the moment – against the populist front-runner Marine Le Pen. Today’s news came as a surprise to me; I hadn’t even read that there was a trial going on. Why so little attention paid? I don’t know for sure, but here’s the upshot:
“Incredible.” That was the single word uttered under her breath by Marine Le Pen as she stormed out of a Paris courtroom this morning.
She left the court early – just before hearing that she was barred from running for office for five years after being found guilty of embezzlement of EU funds – almost certainly ruling her out from standing in the 2027 French presidential election.
Without even waiting for the judge to pronounce the full details of the sentence, the head of the National Rally knew that her political goose was cooked.
There would be no reprieve pending appeal. The bar on running for office was real and immediate.
The charges were apparently a convoluted reading of a law that most French politicians routinely violate without negative consequences. Sound familiar? And as for why the trial hadn’t gotten much publicity here, there’s this:
Le Pen’s incredulity can be better excused, perhaps, in the context of the moment.
A consensus had almost established itself across France’s political world that this ultimate sanction by the court could not, would not – in the end – take place.
It was not just Le Pen’s followers who said it. Her enemies agreed …
So it was thought to be a nothingburger. Instead, quelle surprise!
Le Pen’s National Rally party must now decide whether to throw weight behind another candidate or to keep Le Pen as leader. The article goes on to explain that there’s a chance the appeal could be expedited and decided prior to the 2027 election, and the ban dropped. The wheels of justice certainly grind slow in France, if they grind at all.
The article I’m quoting is from the BBC, and they use some interesting rhetoric here:
In the short term we can expect an outcry, and a boost to the [National Rally] party’s support. Why? Because what has happened fits so neatly into the RN narrative that the populist right is a victim of the “system”.
What an odd coincidence that it “fits so neatly” into the right’s “narrative” of victimhood. After all, it’s only a narrative, no more true or false than any other fairy tale. The fact that Le Pen actually has been persecuted and made a victim of the “system” – well, we needn’t pay much attention to that, because we know it was only done to save the stupid proles from themselves.
The BBC even admits, in the very next paragraph, that the charges against Le Pen were – if you’ll excuse the expression – trumped up [emphasis mine]:
No-one likely to vote for the RN seriously holds it against Marine Le Pen for illegally financing her party using EU parliament funds. They all know that practically every French political party has resorted to similar underhand methods in the past.
And yet here’s the next paragraph:
By the same token, her “draconian” punishment – being banned from standing for the presidency – will be interpreted as a badge of honour: proof that she alone is standing up to the powers-that-be.
Why is draconian in scare quotes? Is that just a “narrative” as well? Didn’t the article already make it clear that until today even Le Pen’s enemies thought such a ban would be draconian, too draconian to impose?
Make up your mind, BBC.
Will the same thing happen to Le Pen’s party as happened in the 2024 US election as a result of – among other things – backlash to the persecution/prosecution of Trump? Hard to say, because under a parliamentary system the party would need either over 50% of the seats or another party would have to ally itself with them, and that’s highly unlikely to happen. However, this verdict is nevertheless playing with fire, because it really does make the persecution “narrative” seem very very true. And Le Pen’s enemies need to understand that if her party ever does take power, with or without her, the same law can be used against those who persecuted her. We’ll see who’s screaming “Draconian!” then.
And there’s also this, because Le Pen’s prison sentence was put on hold pending appeal:
Marine Le Pen remains a member of the National Assembly, where she leads a bloc of 125 – the parliament’s biggest. Till now she had not used that sizeable bloc to attempt to bring down the government of the beleaguered prime minister Francois Bayrou, who struggles on despite having no majority.
Those days may be over.
If you’re going to sentence a political enemy and bar him or her from running for office, you better make certain that the person’s offense is serious and egregiously criminal, or you risk having that kangaroo-court prosecution come back to haunt you.
Is anyone, and I mean anyone, truly surprised that the alleged “rules-based order” is an abject lie from tip to tail through and through?
At least she hasn’t been shot…yet.
France is no stranger to political violence and revolution. The ruling powers should beware.
With much of Europe suppressing populist movements with the claim that they’re resurrections of Hitler, and at the same time catering to Muslim immigrants out of fear, they are committing societal suicide. I have to agree with VP Vance that perhaps they are not worth American blood and treasure to defend.
Hoist, petard, some assembly in progress.
Some appear to have forgotten some of the recent frolics of Putin; nerve gas attack (Novachok) in Salisbury England, poisioning by Polonium in London. Eurocrats may be bad, but they pale by comparisson.
You know, to that guy on the pony.
I haven’t forgotten Putin’s evil, om.
France is no stranger to political violence and revolution. The ruling powers should beware.
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There were reprisals against supposed collaborators after the Germans were run off the premises in 1944. Apart from that, the last instance of notable intramural violence in metropolitan France was in 1871. The last successful revolution was in 1848.
Deco, look up yellow vest protests in 2018-2020.
The French situation is considerably more complicated than presented here.
French politicians of national standing do appear to be frequently convicted of financial shenanigans. Possibly they are really more corrupt, possibly because prosecution is an accepted part of the French political system, but perhaps both.
Former President Sarkozy was convicted of bribery in 2021 for things he did in 2012, as was Prime Minister Fallon convicted in 2020 for fraud and misuse of funds for things done from about 2002 – 2017: putting his wife and kids on the payroll despite their not doing the work supposedly paid for, something similar to what Le Pen has been convicted of. Former President Jacques Chirac was convicted in 2011 of diverting public funds between 1977 and 1995.
Marine Le Pen appears to have tried to comply with the relevant law post-2016 when it became clear that it was becoming more stringently enforced, but she couldn’t go back in time and undo anything, of course.
What’s new is that the sentences can now be implemented before the appeals finish. If there’s lawfare it’s happening there. Normally she’d need to be President or Prime Minister first before she got convicted.
Deco, look up yellow vest protests in 2018-2020.
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Not that violent.
Kate:
You appear to have a better memory than J D Vance.
I suspect they’re figuring that substituting another NR politician for Marine will cost the NR just enough votes through abstentions to allow the Davos candidate to squeak through. Lately, polling of hypothetical two-person contests has Marine prevailing by small margins. Recall her father lost to Jacques Chirac in 2002 by a margin of 4.6 to 1 and she herself lost to Macron by 2:1 just eight years ago. The Socialist Party and the Gaullist-Giscardian combine held between them about 85% of the seats in the national legislature in 2012. Now they hold 18%. An electoral revolution has been underway in France.
Former President Sarkozy was convicted of bribery in 2021 for things he did in 2012, as was Prime Minister Fallon convicted in 2020 for fraud and misuse of funds for things done from about 2002 – 2017: putting his wife and kids on the payroll despite their not doing the work supposedly paid for, something similar to what Le Pen has been convicted of. Former President Jacques Chirac was convicted in 2011 of diverting public funds between 1977 and 1995.
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Amazing how scrupulously honest Socialist Party pols are in France.
And of course across the channel from the “protect democracy” French, the British are punishing the under-7s for… (h/t the Professor’s Place)
https://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2025/03/31/youll-never-believe-why-this-toddler-was-kicked-out-of-nursery-school-n4938451
The only “rules” the “rules-based order” follows are demonic ones.
And of course across the channel from the “protect democracy” French, the British are punishing the under-7s for… (h/t the Professor’s Place)
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The work of teachers’ college graduates who landed ed policy jobs; 80% of those types are ruining the reputations of the other 20%.
The lamps are going out all over Europe.
Over the whole world, actually.
I do understand what you said. One could, not would, hope it isn’t as bloody this time.
“The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey remarked to a friend on the eve of the United Kingdom’s entry into the First World War. First published in Grey’s memoirs in 1925, the statement earned wide attention as an accurate perception of the First World War and its geopolitical and cultural consequences.
A few decades from now folk etymology will hold that “trumped up charges” are named after Donald Trump.
As I wrote on Oct 7, 2023, civil war and world war between good and evil.
The “establishment” just sealed their own fate.
What a fantastic mistake!
That’s the trouble with predicting the future …..
IrishOtter49: “The lamps are going out all over Europe.”
That’s my gut feeling too. Certainly in western Europe. Maybe not 1914, but 1936-1939. Stupidity married to fecklessness, weakness, and mutual distrust. All papered over with empty rhetoric and League of Nations-grade delusions.
Glad my grandparents left and came here. We’ll feel it (as Zelensky put it), but at least we’re on a course correction in this country. The last best hope–if we don’t blow it.
I suspect they’re figuring that substituting another NR politician for Marine will cost the NR just enough votes
Marine has a niece, Marion, who is politically active and very conservative, though I think she split off from the Le Pen family for a time and founded her own party, so I don’t know if she’s a viable replacement. She happens to be quite attractive.
It would be ironic if Le Pen’s successor wins the general election. She and her father have tried multiple times and lost every time. It seems they just can’t win a general election for reasons that are beyond me so maybe it’s time to try someone else from the right. I’ve seen candidates nominated in this country who were close losers previously and the powers-that-be decided that THIS time it will be different. It wasn’t. Some people just have the air of “loser” about them even if they really aren’t that bad. It’s a brand that sticks.
A sad day for France,
a sad day for Europe,
a sad day for Western Civilization.
At least we are getting a better look at the current war:
Global elites + the left + special minorities vs. the middle-class + working-class
It would be ironic if Le Pen’s successor wins the general election. She and her father have tried multiple times and lost every time. It seems they just can’t win a general election for reasons that are beyond me so maybe it’s time to try someone else from the right.
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NR has been improving its position in increments for 50 years. They’ve reached the point where they have a plurality in national parliamentary elections. There have been 17 parliamentary elections under the current constitution. Their performance in popular ballots in 2024 has been exceeded by the Gaullists on four occasions, by the Socialist Party on two occasions, and by UPM / LR on two occasions. No party has ever done as well as they did in 2024 without being the leading performer. Marine has per recent surveys a better-than-even chance of taking the presidency in 2027. There have been eleven popular presidential elections under the current constitution. The office went to the Gaullist candidate five times, the Socialist candidate three times, and the technocratic element three times. She’s been on the verge of accomplishing something that had not been done before. Do try to pay attention.
for a time and founded her own party
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Marion is a member of Reconquete, Eric Zemmour’s outfit. Marine’s deputy is Jordan Bardella.
Can Germany be far behind in outlawing AfD? If you can’t win at the ballot box, just outlaw the candidates preferred by a plurality.
There’s already an effort underway to ban AfD.
Defend the Our Democracy (TM)