Over EU Funds Case France’s far-right opposition leader, Marine Le Pen, has been suspended from holding public office for 15 months by an appeals court over a case involving the misuse of European Parliament funds.
The court also ordered Le Pen to serve a one-year sentence under electronic monitoring in connection with allegations that members of her party used European Union funds to pay parliamentary assistants for work that was not related to their EU roles.
The ruling has cast uncertainty over Le Pen’s ambition to contest France’s next presidential election, where she had been expected to make another bid for the presidency.
Le Pen, who heads the parliamentary group of the National Rally, has denied wrongdoing and maintained that the case was politically motivated.
The suspension comes after a lower court previously imposed a longer ban from public office and a prison sentence over the same allegations. The appeals ruling has now become a major setback for the politician, who has twice reached the second round of France’s presidential election and remains a key figure in the country’s opposition politics.
Le Pen had earlier said she would not run for president if legal restrictions prevented her from campaigning properly, raising questions over whether she can pursue her planned challenge in the next election.
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