French prosecutors on the 3rd of February requested that far-right politician Marine Le Pen be banned from holding public office for five years, but indicated that the ban could be postponed, Reuters reports.
Thus, if the appeals court’s decision takes into account the prosecutors’ demands, the question of Le Pen’s possible candidacy in the French presidential election scheduled for 2027 remains open. The court is not obliged to comply with the prosecutors’ demands.
The ruling, issued in March 2025, ruled that Le Pen should not hold public office for five years, and the decision came into effect immediately. Le Pen and several of her party members and administrative staff are accused of squandering European Union funds. Last year’s verdict found Le Pen at the center of a scheme that embezzled more than four million euros. Prosecutors said on the 3rd of February that Le Pen should be found guilty and called on the appeals court to make the appropriate decision, sentencing Le Pen to four years in prison, three of them suspended and one year under house arrest with a monitoring bracelet.
Speaking of Le Pen, Thierry Ramonatxo, the chief lawyer for the Paris prosecutor’s office, said that
the politician signed the contracts, so she could not have been unaware of what was happening.
She was also said to have been the one who drew up the internal rules. Le Pen told the appeals court that she had no idea she was doing anything wrong.
However, contrary to the original verdict, the prosecutors did not ask for the sentence to take effect immediately, before other appeals. If the court follows the prosecutor’s recommendations and Le Pen appeals to France’s Court of Cassation, she could also decide to run for president. The Court of Cassation has said it would try to make a decision before the election in such a case. This poses a political risk for Le Pen and her party if a final decision finding her guilty is announced close to the election.
Le Pen has run for president three times. If she is barred from running next year, Jordan Bardella could become the party’s choice.
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