By Elissa Darwish and Ingrid Melander
PARIS, Feb 3 (Reuters) – French prosecutors on Tuesday requested a five-year ban on running for public office for far-right leader Marine Le Pen in her appeal trial over the misuse of European Union funds, but said this should not be enforced immediately.
This leaves the question of Le Pen’s 2027 presidential election candidacy wide open if the appeals court, when it delivers its ruling in the coming months, follows the prosecutors’ requests. It has no obligation to do so.
The initial ruling, in March last year, was a major setback for Le Pen as it banned her from running for office for five years, effective immediately.
In that ruling, a court said that Le Pen had been “at the heart” of a scheme to misappropriate more than 4 million euros of EU funds and use them to pay the far-right party’s staff back home.
The prosecutors maintained on Tuesday that Le Pen was guilty, urging the appeal court to rule accordingly and deliver a 4-year jail term, three of which would be suspended and one of which would be served at home with an electronic tag.
The RN and other party figures were also guilty of diverting European Parliament funds, prosecutors said.
PRESIDENTIAL BID?
“She signed the contracts. She cannot claim that she didn’t know,” Thierry Ramonatxo, advocate general at the Paris prosecutor’s office told the appeals court, speaking of Le Pen. “She was the one who set the rules internally.”
Le Pen told the appeals court that she had no sense of having done anything wrong.
However, contrary to the initial ruling, prosecutors did not request on Tuesday that any sentence be enforced immediately, ahead of any further appeals.
Were the court to follow the prosecutors’ recommendations and Le Pen takes her appeal to France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation, she could decide to run in the presidential election.
The Cour de Cassation has said it would try to rule on any appeal before the election. Such a ruling could pose a political risk for Le Pen and her party if she is handed a final guilty verdict close to the vote, which is due in April or May.
BARDELLA OPTION
Le Pen has run three times for president.
If she does not run next year, party president Jordan Bardella looks set to become the RN’s candidate.
Bardella, 30, has helped expand the RN’s appeal among younger voters though some analysts question whether he has the experience to win over the broader electorate the RN needs to secure victory in 2027.
(Reporting by Elissa Darwish; additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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