Marine Le Pen faces moment of truth in court

Marine Le Pen ’s political future is on the line as we await a Paris appeals court verdict on her eligibility to stand in the next presidential election. 

FRANCE 24’s Eliza Herbert has more on a legal case with political implications that has gripped France.

Possible outcomes of Paris appeals court verdict

Here are some possible outcomes of the Paris appeal verdict:

The Paris appeal court could overturn Marine Le Pen’s conviction, leaving ​her free to run for president next year. Legal experts say that’s an unlikely outcome.

The court ⁠may uphold Le Pen’s conviction. If it confirms the five-year ban requested by prosecutors, it will rule her out of the presidential race, paving the way for Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old party chief, to take Le Pen’s place as the National Rally (RN) candidate in the 2027 French presidential election.

The court may uphold the conviction but soften the sentence. If the ban from public office were lifted ⁠or shortened ​to two years or less, the door could be opened to a fourth presidential bid for ​Le Pen, given the ban started at the end of the first trial in March 2025.

If the conviction and hefty sentence are upheld, Le Pen could appeal to France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation. She has previously said she would ​not be a presidential candidate if she has to wait any longer for a final ruling.

You can ‘count on me’: Bardella expresses his loyalty to Le Pen

Jordan Bardella, the National Rally’s 30-yar-old president, posted a letter to Marine Le Pen last night in a lengthy post on X, expressing his loyalty and reiterating that a sentence barring her from running for the presidency would be a “grave infringement on the free choice” of the French people.

“Over the years, under the watchful eye of the French people, Marine has placed her trust and unwavering support in me, and has become a friend. She has enabled me to shoulder responsibilities I never imagined I would hold when, as a teenager, I first decided to walk through the door of a political party,” he said.

“At a time when millions of French people place their hopes and trust in her, depriving her of the opportunity to seek their votes would constitute a grave infringement on the free choice of the French people,” he added.

“To you, Marine, I simply want to say this: you could count on me yesterday, you can count on me today, and you will be able to count on me tomorrow. Together, for all the French people, until victory,” concluded Le Pen’s political successor.

Bardella says ‘ready to accept consequences’ of Le Pen verdict

French far-right leader Jordan Bardella said he was “ready to accept the consequences” of the upcoming court ruling that will determine whether he will be his party’s candidate in France’s 2027 presidential elections.

“We have anticipated every scenario,” the National Rally (RN) party leader said Monday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

If the appeals court upholds last year’s ruling, Marine Le Pen will be banned from vying to replace President Emmanuel Macron in next year’s election.

Le Pen has suggested that 30-year-old Bardella could stand instead if she has to step down.

Bardella said he would return to Paris on Monday and meet with Le Pen late on Tuesday.

Le Pen maintains her innocence, but softened tone at appeals trial

Marine Le Pen has maintained her innocence during a long investigation into the fake jobs scandal and judicial process.

During her first trial, Le Pen was “very aggressive, saying it was a political witch-hunt”, notes FRANCE 24’s Philip Turle.

It was not well viewed by the judges and the appeals trial saw the far-right leader being “much more open about it, saying there may have been mistakes made, but she wasn’t aware of them and that she was terribly sorry”, explains Turle.

Lookback: The ‘fake jobs scam’ trial

We are awaiting the Paris appeals court ruling on whether France’s far-right figurehead, Marine Le Pen, is eligible to run in the country’s 2027 presidential election.

Le Pen has appealed a 2025 French court ruling that found her guilty of embezzling European parliamentary funds in what has been dubbed the “fake jobs scandal”.

On March 31, 2025, the Paris Correctional Court ruled that Le Pen had been “at the heart” of a scheme to misappropriate ​more than €4 million ($4.56 million) of European parliamentary funds to pay her own political party employees. This is against EU rules, which stipulate that those funds can only be used by European parliamentary staff working in Brussels.

Here are some of the 2025 sentencing details:

• Le Pen was given a four-year prison sentence, including two years suspended with the other two to be served at home with an electronic bracelet
• A five-year ban on running for public office
• Le Pen was slapped with a €100,000 fine
• Her party was also fined €2 million ($2.16 million), half of which was suspended. s

In addition to Le Pen, eight other former EU lawmakers and 12 parliamentary assistants were convicted over the misuse of funds. 

• Marine Le Pen’s 2027 bid for French presidency is at stake in Paris court ruling
• The stakes: Verdict with ‘momentous’ political implications
• Bardella says ‘ready to accept consequences’ of Le Pen verdict

Marine Le Pen’s 2027 bid for French presidency is at stake in Paris court ruling

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen ’s political future is on the line as a Paris appeals court rules on her eligibility to stand in the next presidential election. 

The verdict will be delivered from 1.30pm and could take several hours to read. It could reshape the 2027 contest to replace President Emmanuel Macron if it forces the popular Le Pen out of the picture. The constitution prevents Macron from seeking a third consecutive term.

Le Pen, 57, is appealing a March 2025 conviction that found her and other members of her National Rally party guilty of misusing European Parliament funds by paying party staff with money intended for EU parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016.

The lower court sentenced her to prison time, suspended pending appeal, and imposed a five-year ban on holding elected office. 

Le Pen has denied any wrongdoing and still hopes to mount a fourth bid for the presidency. But a verdict that upholds a lengthy ban could make that impossible and suspend her career that has transformed the National Rally into a major political force.

The stakes: Verdict with ‘momentous’ political implications

The high-stakes Paris appeals court ruling today could reshape France’s upcoming presidential election in 2027 and the contest to elect Emmanuel Macron’s successor in the Élysée presidential palace.

The verdict could determine whether Marine Le Pen is eligible to make her fourth bid for the presidency in less than a year.

France’s far-right figurehead has appealed a March 2025 court ruling, which barred her from running from office for five years after she was convicted of embezzling European parliamentary funds to pay her party’s employees.

At her appeal hearing, one of Le Pen’s lawyers told the court their verdict would be “momentous” given the upcoming presidential election.

FRANCE 24’s Romain Brunet analyses the stakes of a verdict that will be pivotal for France and the European Union’s political future.

Hello and welcome to FRANCE 24’s live coverage as a Paris appeals court is set to rule on far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen’s political future.