Marine Le Pen will not be allowed to stand in France’s next Presidential election after being banned from politics for five years following conviction on embezzlement charges in a ruling condemned by Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister as a “declaration of war by Brussels”. The Telegraph has more.
The National Rally (RN) chief was also handed a four-year prison sentence, of which two years are suspended, and a €100,000 fine.
The judge said Le Pen was “at the heart” of a scheme to embezzle EU funds to pay party staff.
She was found guilty alongside dozens of other party associates earlier this morning but stormed out of the court before she could hear the judge’s verdict.
The ruling all but ends her bid to replace Emmanuel Macron as France’s president at the 2027 election.
Le Pen could fight the immediate ban, but it would only be lifted if any appeal is upheld before the election. She will retain her seat in the National Assembly until her mandate ends, however. …
Le Pen is likely to appeal the sentence, meaning the jail term and fine will be put on hold, but the ban has been put into place immediately.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s Deputy PM, has said the decision was a “declaration of war by Brussels”.
Matteo Salvini said “those who fear the judgement of the voters often find reassurance in the judgement of the courts”.
“In Paris they condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to exclude her from political life. A bad film that we are also seeing in other countries such as Romania.
“The one against @MLP_officiel is a declaration of war by Brussels, at a time when the warlike impulses of von der Leyen and Macron are frightening.
“We will not be intimidated, we will not stop: full speed ahead my friend!”
The Telegraph’s James Crisp argues “this is Marine Le Pen’s Donald Trump moment”.
Mr Trump convinced voters he was a victim of ‘lawfare’, a witch hunt waged by an elite determined to block him from power.
He won November’s US Presidential election, despite being convicted of 34 felonies and facing charges over allegations he tried to overturn the vote he lost to Joe Biden.
Ms Le Pen is now barred from running the next race for the Elysée, a defenestration at the top of France’s largest single party that will make the deeply polarised country even more impossible to govern.
This is a huge blow for the National Rally leader, who has gradually detoxified her party’s brand while edging closer to power over the past three French Presidential elections.
But it is a gift for Europe’s nationalist Right, which will waste no time in transforming her into a martyr.
They will paint Ms Le Pen as a Joan of Arc, sacrificed in a Brussels-backed globalist conspiracy to prevent a Eurosceptic reaching the pinnacle of French politics.
Even before the verdict was read out in full, Hungary’s Viktor Orban was declaring “Je suis Marine!” on social media.
Follow the Telegraph‘s coverage here.
Stop Press: Daily Sceptic regular Eugyppius has weighed in. He’s unimpressed, obviously.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.