Marine Le Pen, an outstanding figure of the National Regrouping (RN) of France, one of the most consolidated extreme parties in Europe, has been declared guilty of embezzlement of the European Parliament.
During their stage as a Eurodiputada, between 2004 and 2017, Le Pen and his team paid the party staff with funds that should have been destined for parliamentary assistants. The court estimates that a total of 2.9 million euros of funds from the European Parliament were involved in crimes and that he personally embezzled 474,000 euros of that amount.
For this reason it has been sentenced to four years in prison, two of which would be of electronic surveillance. It is unlikely to see him the interior of a cell during the other two years, since he is appealing his conviction.
Perhaps more important is the fact that he has been forbidden to occupy public office for five years. It is crucial that the prohibition begins immediately, which means that, even with an appeal, it is very unlikely that it can appear as a candidate in the next presidential elections of 2027.
For many in the RN, the decision of the court is a hard blow. The party seems to have lost the candidate who believed that he was on his way to the victory in 2027. However, others will see this without a doubt as an opportunity to further disconnect the party of the name of Le Pen, after the death of Marine’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, earlier this year.
This process has been running for some time. Jordan Bardella replaced Le Pen as president of the party in 2022 and has clearly been waiting and preparing for this eventuality. The accusations against Le Pen were formulated for the first time many years ago and their crimes are related to their stage as a Eurodiputa between 2004 and 2017. He has been the option of Plan B throughout his judgment.
Bardella led the RN to victory in the European elections of 2024 in France. He also managed to send a record number of parliamentarians to the National Assembly after French president Emmanuel Macron convened early elections a few weeks later.
However, the result was something disappointing, since many in the extreme right had begun to imagine Bardella as prime minister. Not fulfilling this expectation, its leadership has been the subject of greater scrutiny. His reaction to Le Pen’s ostracism will be observed carefully.
Get the victim
In general, it is good news to see that corruption is taken seriously and that justice is done. However, Le Pen’s conviction comes after years of embezzlement that have allowed the extreme right to gain strength. All this has happened behind a system that has promised to destroy. As such, it seems too little and too late.
In addition, this decision, and the fact that it is linked to the European Union, will probably feed the typical propaganda of the extreme right at the national level. Le Pen and the party will be passed through victims, blaming the condemnation of a wide conspiracy organized by something similar to the deep state that operates through Brussels.
The deep levels of distrust in public institutions and conventional policy probably play a role in this case. Le Pen will try to submit an independent court as the political murder of the “Ombudsman.”
It could become a martyr, turning its cause into a revolt against “the system.” Bardella has already said that the condemnation of Le Pen is equivalent to the “execution” of democracy.
However, it is crucial that this result is not inevitable. That this narrative is imposed is a choice that is largely in the hands of the actors of the dominant elite. Therefore, those who have privileged access to shape public discourse, as journalists, politicians and experts, will play a key role.
Instead of giving a place of honor to Le Pen and the extreme right in a tempting sensational coverage, the main media must resort to a serious analysis. This would imply removing the focus of individuals and putting it into the broader issues that are at stake, which would reduce the possibility of a victimization narrative will strengthen.
Beyond offering a precise image of the case itself, good coverage should focus mainly on politics and not on the show that the RN inevitably tries to build as a distraction tactics.
This would mean seriously committing to what the RN really proposes as a model of society: one that is not against the “elite” and favor of the people, but simply in favor of a different elite that takes control in front of an authoritarian state from top to bottom.
This would then allow voters to understand that the extreme right is not on their side, but on the side of power, wealth and hierarchies. Those who oppose such a power could contribute to some extent to repair the damage that has been done by neglecting these parties with “populism.”
Finally, good coverage would also mean not to give pábulo to the agenda of the extreme right and its favorite themes. If politicians – left, right and center – would not have continually used the extreme right as a distraction of their own failures to address the many crises that their countries face, this would not be as powerful as it seems.
As opinion surveys show, when people are asked what their biggest personal concerns are, the central themes of the extreme right, such as immigration, occupy a secondary place. Instead, priority is given to issues that would require radical measures to deal with economic and social insecurity.
The extreme right offers nothing to address these issues, only division so that citizens feel helpless to fight. Now that Le Pen is off, it is a good time to focus the agenda on democracy and hope again.
Aurelien Mondon, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Bath
This article was originally published in The Conversation. Read the original.
