The appeal trial of Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN), opened in Paris on Tuesday, January 13, marking a decisive moment not only for her personal legal fate but also for the future of the French far right. Condemned at first instance to prison, a heavy fine, and – most critically – an immediate five-year ban from holding public office, Le Pen now faces a judicial process that could determine whether she is able to run in the 2027 presidential election or whether her long-standing political career will effectively come to an end.
The hearings, presided over by Judge Michèle Agi, are scheduled to last until February 11 at the historic Palais de Justice in the heart of Paris. A ruling is expected in the summer of 2026. Alongside Marine Le Pen, the RN as a party and eleven other defendants are once again on trial, accused of misappropriation of European public funds. The stakes are exceptionally high: the appeal court’s decision will shape not only the leadership of the RN, but also the broader balance of power in French politics ahead of the next presidential race.
Marine Le Pen, a three-time unsuccessful candidate for the Élysée Palace, was convicted on March 31, 2025, by the Paris criminal court. The judges sentenced her to four years in prison – two of them suspended and two to be served under electronic monitoring – along with a €100,000 fine. Above all, they imposed a five-year ban on holding public office with immediate effect. This provisional execution means that, as things stand, Le Pen is barred from running in the 2027 presidential election or even from standing again for her parliamentary seat in Pas-de-Calais in the event of an early dissolution of the National Assembly.
The case centers on events that took place between 2004 and 2016, when Marine Le Pen was a Member of the European Parliament and later the leader of the Front National (FN), now renamed the Rassemblement National. According to the prosecution and the European Parliament, which is a civil party in the case, Le Pen helped organize a system designed to divert funds allocated for parliamentary assistants in Brussels and Strasbourg. These funds, the court found, were instead used to pay party staff who worked primarily, or exclusively, for the FN and its leadership in France.
The trial court assessed the total financial damage at €3.2 million, after subtracting €1.1 million that had already been reimbursed by some of the defendants. In the first instance, 25 people were convicted. Of those, twelve chose not to appeal, including Marine Le Pen’s own sister, Yann Le Pen. However, several prominent figures from the RN decided to challenge the verdict and will once again appear before the judges, among them Louis Aliot, mayor of Perpignan; RN deputy Julien Odoul; MEP Nicolas Bay; and long-time party figure Bruno Gollnisch. For the prosecution, now represented on appeal by Thierry Ramonatxo and Stéphane Madoz-Blanchet, the case remains clear-cut. They argue that the misuse of European funds was systematic, deliberate, and designed to strengthen the party apparatus at the expense of European taxpayers. The first-instance judges agreed, concluding that Marine Le Pen bore central responsibility for setting up and maintaining the scheme.
Le Pen, however, continues to proclaim her innocence. Speaking on Monday on the sidelines of a press event organized by RN president Jordan Bardella, she said she hoped to convince the judges of my innocence. According to her, there is only one line of defense: telling the truth. She insists that this was already her strategy during the first trial and that she now hopes to be better heard by the appeal court.
This time, however, her legal strategy may evolve. Assisted once again by her long-time lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, and joined by a new attorney, Sandra Chirac-Kollarik, Marine Le Pen is expected to place greater emphasis on the absence of criminal intent. Rather than denying the facts outright – a strategy that some observers described during the first trial as a rupture defense – she may argue that any irregularities were administrative in nature and not the result of a deliberate plan to defraud the European Parliament. Even so, the legal risks remain enormous. While a full acquittal would obviously clear her path to the 2027 election, even a partial conviction could still allow her to run – under strict conditions. For that to happen, any ban on holding office would need to be reduced to less than two years, and the court would have to abandon the sentence of electronic monitoring, which is widely viewed as incompatible with conducting a national presidential campaign. Whether the appeal judges are willing to significantly soften the original sentence remains an open question.
Marine Le Pen has made it clear that she will accept the appeal court’s ruling as decisive for her future, regardless of whether further legal avenues remain open. Although the Court of Cassation could potentially be seized afterward, she has indicated that she will not wait for its decision to clarify her political plans – even though the high court could, if asked, rule before the 2027 election.
Beyond the courtroom, the political consequences of her conviction are already visible. Nine months after the first verdict, Marine Le Pen’s image has suffered in public opinion. Increasingly, the idea that Jordan Bardella, the young and popular president of the RN, could replace her as the party’s presidential candidate has taken hold. According to a recent Verian poll published by Le Monde and L’Hémicycle, 49 percent of French respondents believe Bardella has the best chance of winning the presidency, compared to just 16 percent for Marine Le Pen. Moreover, 30 percent think Bardella would make a better president than his mentor, while 22 percent believe the opposite. Despite these numbers, Marine Le Pen has not given up. Last autumn, she reiterated that she was absolutely certain she would once again seek the presidency if she is legally allowed to do so. At the same time, she acknowledged that, if barred from running, “Jordan Bardella can win in my place”. This dual message reflects both her determination to remain the central figure of the far right and her pragmatic acceptance that the RN’s future may soon lie in other hands.
As the appeal trial unfolds, France – and indeed Europe – will be watching closely. The proceedings are not merely about accounting rules or parliamentary assistants; they touch on fundamental questions of political responsibility, the rule of law, and the resilience of democratic institutions when confronted with powerful and polarizing figures.
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