Overview
- Hearings begin Tuesday and are scheduled through February 12, with a ruling expected in the summer of 2026.
- In March 2025 a first-instance court convicted Le Pen and 24 others of embezzling EU funds, imposing four years’ prison with two suspended, two years of house arrest with electronic monitoring, and a €100,000 fine.
- The ineligibility order took immediate effect, and if upheld she could be excluded from elections until 2031 and lose her parliamentary seat.
- Investigators estimate losses to the European Parliament at about €4.1–€4.3 million, with roughly €1.1 million repaid, linked to assistants who did party work or lacked required presence in Brussels.
- RN leader Jordan Bardella is viewed in polls as the likely alternative candidate and is not charged in this case, while Le Pen denounces the proceedings as political and the Paris court president has warned about reported foreign interference targeting judges.