Marine Le Pen will learn on Tuesday whether she remains eligible to contest the 2027 French presidential election, when the Paris appeal court rules on her conviction for embezzling European Parliament funds.
The decision, due at 13:30 local time, will determine whether the National Rally figurehead can continue preparing for a fourth presidential campaign or whether her party must proceed with its alternative candidate, Jordan Bardella. With the first round of the election scheduled for 18 April 2027 and a run-off on 2 May, the ruling is expected to set the terms for the early phase of the race.
Le Pen, 57, was barred from holding public office for five years in March 2025 after a court found her guilty of misusing €1.4 million in European Parliament money between 2004 and 2016. The court found that funds intended to pay parliamentary assistants had instead been used for staff working for her party. Le Pen served as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017.
She was also given a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended and two years to be served under electronic monitoring at home. The original judgment found that she had either approved or tolerated the arrangement, which prosecutors described as a system of fake jobs linked to the party’s activities.
Le Pen denies having organised a fraud scheme. During the appeal hearings in January and February, she accepted that there had been “a mistake” in which some parliamentary aides worked “for the benefit of the party”, but rejected the allegation that she had directed an embezzlement operation.
Prosecutors have asked the appeal court to uphold the five-year ban from public office. They have also sought a four-year sentence structured as one year under electronic monitoring and three years suspended. If the court follows that position, Le Pen would be legally and practically constrained during the campaign period.
Le Pen has said she is not afraid of the ruling, but has argued that it would be impossible to run a presidential campaign while subject to an electronic tag. She told LCI that a presidential candidate must be free to travel, meet voters and hold rallies without relying on judicial approval for movement.
The legal consequences depend on the form of the appeal ruling. If Le Pen is acquitted, she would be able to stand without the public office ban attached to the original judgment. If she is found guilty and barred from office for more than two years from the date of the March 2025 conviction, she would be unable to contest the 2027 election. A reduced ban of two years or less would leave her eligible to run.
She could also challenge an unfavourable decision before the Court of Cassation, France’s highest court for reviewing points of law. She would have 10 days to decide whether to pursue that route. Such a challenge would not immediately amount to a fresh trial of the facts and could take months, potentially disrupting campaign preparations. Le Pen has indicated she may not take that course.
The case carries particular weight because Le Pen is not only a defendant in a financial crime appeal but also one of the central figures in French electoral politics. She has run for president three times and reached the second round against Emmanuel Macron in both 2017 and 2022. Polling has placed her ahead of rivals for the first round of the next contest.
Her position within National Rally has been built over more than a decade. She took over the then National Front from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011 and set about softening the party’s public image. In 2015 she expelled him after a long dispute over his comments on the Holocaust, and in 2018 she renamed the party Rassemblement National, or National Rally.
The party achieved its strongest parliamentary result in 2024, when a right wing alliance led by National Rally secured 143 seats in the 577-member National Assembly. That performance reinforced Le Pen’s claim to be a leading contender for the presidency and strengthened Bardella’s position as party chairman.
The original trial judge took a different view of her role in the European Parliament funding case. The court found that Le Pen was “at the heart” of the system and had embraced a structure established under the party’s previous leadership. Le Pen has argued that she has been treated differently from other political leaders whose parties have faced findings of financial wrongdoing.
If the appeal ruling removes her from the presidential field, Bardella is expected to stand in her place. Now 30, he has led National Rally as chairman since 2022 and was part of Le Pen’s campaign team from his early twenties. After the March 2025 conviction, he emerged as the party’s formal contingency plan.
Bardella told supporters at the weekend that he remained committed to Le Pen and wanted to see her elected president. Le Pen has said that, if she became president, she would make him prime minister. She has also said she would support him with energy and confidence if the courts prevent her from standing.
The arrangement is intended to show continuity inside National Rally. Recent polling cited in France has placed both Le Pen and Bardella above 30 per cent for the first round, with Bardella marginally ahead in some surveys. Political opponents have questioned whether Bardella, who turns 31 in September, has the experience to carry the party through a national run-off.
Le Pen was not the only National Rally figure convicted in the original case. Twelve of the 25 party members tried were found guilty in March 2025, and 12 appealed. They include Louis Aliot, the party’s vice-president and mayor of Perpignan, former National Front secretary general Nicolas Bay, former senior figure Bruno Gollnisch, former treasurer Wallerand de Saint-Just and Catherine Griset, a former close aide to Le Pen.
Tuesday’s ruling will therefore have consequences beyond one politician’s legal standing. It will shape the presidential field, test National Rally’s succession planning and determine whether Le Pen’s long campaign to reach the Élysée can continue. Whatever the outcome, the judgment will mark a significant procedural and political moment in France’s approach to party finance, public office and electoral eligibility.
