French far-right leader Marine Le Pen acknowledged a \u00ab\u00a0mistake\u00a0\u00bb at a key appeals trial in Paris<\/b>
\nFrench far-right leader Marine Le Pen acknowledged \u201ca mistake\u201d on Wednesday at an appeals trial hearing in Paris that could derail her presidential ambitions, but firmly denied accusations she was at the center of a fraudulent system to siphon off European Union funds.
Le Pen, 57, is seeking to overturn a March 2025 ruling that found her guilty of misusing EU Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016.
She acknowledged some people paid as EU parliamentary aides performed work for her party, then known as the National Front, during that period.
\u201cThe mistake lies here: there were certainly some aides, on a case-by-case basis, who must have worked either marginally, more substantially, or entirely \u2026 for the benefit of the party. And voil\u00e0,\u201d Le Pen told the three-judge panel.
The five-week trial that started last week could significantly impact France\u2019s political landscape. The appeals court is expected to issue its ruling before the summer.
Last March, Le Pen was given a five-year ban from holding elected office, two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet and a further two-year suspended sentence for having violated the 27-nation bloc\u2019s regulations.
A Paris court ruled that she was at the heart of \u201ca fraudulent system\u201d that her party used to siphon off EU Parliament funds worth 2.9 million euros ($3.4 million). The ruling described the embezzlement as \u201ca democratic bypass\u201d unfair to competitors.
If she\u2019s ruled able to run, Le Pen is expected to be among the top contenders in the 2027 presidential election. If she\u2019s ineligible, she has designated her 30-year-old prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Jordan Bardella, as her successor in the presidential bid.
During intense questioning on Wednesday, Le Pen firmly denied the existence of \u201ca system\u201d meant to hire party workers with EU funds. Calm and steady, she insisted her party never committed any illegal move on purpose.
\u201cI wouldn’t say we did everything perfectly. Some criticism can be made about us,\u201d Le Pen said. \u201cBut we acted in complete good faith.\u201d
Quizzed about the decision-making process for each hiring, Le Pen acknowledged \u201cambiguity\u201d in some aides\u2019 assignment. Her personal assistant, who had a contract as EU parliamentary aide, \u201cmay have bought some flight tickets for me as president of the party, I admit it, yes,\u201d she said.
The chief judge, Mich\u00e8le Agi, noted that as an MEP from 2004 and president of her party from 2011, Le Pen had approved those hirings.
\u201cYou are a lawyer, you know the law \u2014 inevitably, a signature, a contract are notions that have a meaning for you,\u201d Agi told Le Pen.
Le Pen instead blamed European parliament for at the time not tell her party that the way it was hiring people was potentially against any rules.
Asked about her bodyguard, she said she believed the European parliament accepted he had a contract as an aide because his case was \u201ca bit special.\u201d
\u201cThere are not many MEPs who need to be protected\u2026 and one can also think the European parliament takes that exceptional situation into account. I think we did not committed any irregularities\u00a0\u00bb, she said.<\/p>\n