French politician Marine Le Pen may be emboldened in a similar fashion to President Donald Trump following one of his indictments after a court found the National Rally leader guilty of embezzling EU funds and banned her from standing in French elections for five years, an analyst has told Newsweek.
Why It Matters
On Monday, Le Pen and officials in her party were found guilty of misusing European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016. Le Pen was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, of which two are suspended. She will also be fitted with an electronic tag. Along with the prison sentence, she was fined 100,000 euros ($108,000) and barred from running for office for five years.
Her lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, has indicated that Le Pen intends to appeal the verdict. Neither the prison sentence nor the fine will be applied until her appeals are completed, which may take years.
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What To Know
Analysts have suggested Le Pen may be helped by this decision in a similar fashion to Trump when his mug shot went viral.
In August 2023, he was booked at Fulton County Jail in Georgia and had his mug shot taken after he was accused of conspiring to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss in the state, something he has repeatedly denied.
Trump started selling merchandise featuring the image, which became a symbol of defiance for the Republican and his supporters, on his website.
After Le Pen was barred from future elections, some analysts suggested she will use it to her political advantage.
Speaking to Newsweek, Arthur Goldhammer, senior affiliate at Harvard University’s Center for European Studies, said Le Pen will now copy “Trump’s playbook.”
“Le Pen’s party, the Rassemblement National [National Rally], will of course take a page from Trump’s playbook and complain about the ‘weaponization’ of the justice system,” he said.
“And it is true that other French politicians, including the current Prime Minister, François Bayrou, and former President Nicolas Sarkozy have also been accused of crimes related to the financing of their campaigns without being removed from the political scene.”
Meanwhile, writing in British publication The Spectator, Gavin Mortimer, who specializes in French politics, said the sentence might help her party.
“Le Pen may be gone, but her party will probably benefit from this judgment,” he wrote. “The anger of her 11 million voters is likely to go from simmering to seething in the days and weeks ahead.”
What People Are Saying
Le Pen’s allies have said that they see the ruling as anti-democratic. Jordan Bardella, the National Rally president, said democracy “was killed.”
“Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly condemned: It was French democracy that was killed,” he said.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, called the verdict “a declaration of war by Brussels.”
“People who are afraid of the judgment of the voters are often reassured by the judgment of the courts,” he said.
“In Paris, they have condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to exclude her from political life—an ugly film that we are also seeing in other countries such as Romania. We will not be intimidated, we will not stop: Full steam ahead, my friend!”
Harvard’s Arthur Goldhammer said that the Le Pen verdict “will completely reshape the French political landscape.”
“She would have been a front-runner for the presidency in 2027. Her removal leaves the field wide-open and will intensify the political jockeying, especially among politicians on the right wing of French politics.”
Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party, said: “Ms. Le Pen is a politician who demands firmness on the part of the judiciary! Respect the judicial system, then.”
What Happens Next
Le Pen left the court while the sentence was being read out. Her lawyer, Bosselut, said Le Pen will appeal. “We are going to appeal,” he said, adding that the verdict was “a blow to democracy.”
