Le Pen ‘had no sense of doing wrong’, appeal hears

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on the opening day of her appeal that will determine whether she can participate in the 2027 presidential election that she had no idea she had done anything wrong.

Le Pen was banned from public office for five years with immediate effect in March after she and eight other former National Rally (RN) MPs were found guilty of misusing more than four million euros (US$A7 million) in EU funds.

Between 2004 and 2016, Le Pen and others used funds earmarked for work in the European Parliament to pay staff working for the party, the judges said.

The party itself and a dozen parliamentary assistants were found guilty of taking the money.

In her few words in court on Tuesday, Le Pen struck a starkly different tone from her first trial, when she staunchly denied any wrongdoing and accused the judges of political bias.

Instead, he said Tuesday that if he did anything potentially wrong, it was unintentional.

“At the beginning, I would like to point out that if any crime has been committed, I want the court to understand that we have absolutely no intention of doing anything wrong,” Le Pen said. he said.

“The European Parliament did not warn us about anything, as it could have done,” he said, adding: “I firmly believe that we never concealed anything.”

Le Pen was also sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended initially and two years under house arrest, and a fine of 100,000 euros ($A174,354). Unlike the ban, these penalties did not come into force due to appeal.

RN and 10 others were also found guilty of diverting or receiving European Parliament funds.

The hearing will end on February 12. Le Pen will be questioned at length in court next Tuesday and Wednesday.

European Parliament lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said he hoped the convictions of Le Pen and the other defendants would be upheld; this includes more than three million euros (A$5.2 million) in compensation paid to the European Parliament.

RN was also ordered to pay a fine of two million euros (US$3.5 million), with half of that amount suspended.

A decision is expected before the summer; This means Le Pen’s hopes of running for office in 2027 remain alive if her five-year ban is lifted or heavily restricted.

If he fails to become a candidate, his protégé, 30-year-old ‍RN party president Jordan Bardella, is expected to step in.