French and foreign politicians are reacting to sentences handed down on Monday by a Paris court in a case against the right-wing National Rally party (RN) and several of its most prominent figures, including Marine Le Pen, the party’s former leader who currently heads its parliamentary faction.
Le Pen and others have been convicted of embezzling EU funds intended for political assistants and face a variety of sentences, including a five-year ban on seeking public office and two years house arrest.
Several other defendants have also been sentenced to prison terms of various lengths.
RN is the single largest party in the French parliament and the sentencing has sent a shockwave through the country's, and wider European, politics.
31 March 2025
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Washington is concerned about candidates being excluded from the political process, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce has said.
“We have got to do more as the West than just talk about democratic values, we must live them,” she told a press conference, commenting on Le Pen’s guilty verdict.
“Exclusion of people from the political process is particularly concerning, given the aggressive and corrupt lawfare waged against President Trump here in the United States,” the spokesperson added.
Le Pen has stated that she will not simply submit to the court ruling, calling it “a denial of democracy.”
“No judge can decide to interfere in an election as important as the presidential election, and furthermore, by violating the rule of law,” she told TF1 TV.
She added that, like her supporters, she was outraged.
“Let them know that this indignation and this sense of injustice will be an additional driving force in the fight I am waging for them,” she said.
Marine Le Pen has described the court’s decision to bar her from running in France’s 2027 presidential election as politically motivated. Speaking on TF1 TV, she denied the allegations of embezzling public funds and said she was being “eliminated.”
“I did not think that the magistrates would go to this point against our democratic process,” Le Pen stated, adding: “In reality, millions of French people have lost their voice…”
Talking about the plans to appeal her conviction, Le Pen vowed to “always” stand by the French. “There are millions of French people who believe in me – millions of French people who trust me,” she said.
Former French President Francois Hollande has called for “respect for the independence of the judiciary” following Le Pen’s conviction. “Justice has spoken legally, has not preached morality, and has spoken with complete independence,” Hollande told BFM-TV, adding that the court had handed down “a harsh sentence, but for serious offenses.”
Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has called the verdict an attempt by French authorities to eliminate political rivals, saying that the Fifth French Republic has completely discredited itself.
“The main goal of this hastily arranged ruling is to sideline the leader of one of France’s major parties ahead of the 2027 presidential election,” Medvedev wrote on the social media platform VKontakte, adding that “the world recently witnessed a similar disgrace in Romania.”
France’s Socialist Party has said it acknowledges the court’s ruling against Le Pen “as it would any other,” and urged to “respect the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.”
“The Socialist Party remains committed to defending republican values and transparency in public life, which are essential to building public trust,” the party said in a statement.
Marine Le Pen’s conviction is another example of judicial intervention in the political process, John Laughland, a lecturer in politics and history at the Catholic Institute of the Vendee (ICES) in Western France, has told RT. He called the court’s ruling “very bad” for the image of France and the EU, citing similar cases in Romania and Germany.
The decision, he argued, would only reinforce Le Pen and the National Rally’s position as “victims of the system” and ultimately strengthen their political standing.
Laughland also pointed to similar cases involving former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, former Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvin, and US President Donald Trump, saying “I think the key political interpretation, if there is one, is more to do with Russia and NATO and the Western alliance generally than more specifically with the EU.”
The conviction of Le Pen is a “shame” for a country that describes itself as a symbol of liberty, and signals a move away from democratic standards to those of the developing world, Pascal Mas, a diplomatic adviser and specialist on Russia, has told RT.
Mas said Le Pen was prosecuted for “very serious things” with the intention of “killing her party,” and called it “incredible” to see a country built on civil liberties take such a path. “People are shocked to observe such injustice,” he said, adding that a strong public reaction could follow.
Citing latest opinion polls, Mas argued that the French authorities wanted Le Pen “out of the game” because they feared she could win the 2027 presidential election.
RN President Jordan Bardella, in a post on X, has called the verdict against Le Pen “a democratic scandal” and urged “peaceful and popular mobilization” to show that “the will of the people is stronger.”
An accompanying petition titled ‘Save democracy, support Marine’ has said: “You have always been able to count on Marine Le Pen, on her willingness to defend you, on her patriotism. Today, she is counting on you.”
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou is “troubled” by the embezzlement ruling against Le Pen, a source close to him has told AFP. Bayrou does not plan to make “any statement on a judicial ruling,” the source added.
France is plunging into an “unpredictable maelstrom” and could see protests similar to those in Romania after presidential candidate Calin Georgescu was barred from running, former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has said, according to TASS. She added that strong reactions from the US were likely to follow.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has responded on X to the Le Pen verdict, saying: “When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents. This is their standard playbook throughout the world.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described the verdict as a violation of democratic norms, saying “more and more European capitals” are undermining them. He added, however, that the issue is France’s internal affair.
National Rally leaders are reportedly conducting a crisis meeting at the party’s headquarters in Paris to discuss how to proceed.
Eric Zemmour, president of the minority right-wing Reconquete party, has expressed support for Le Pen, saying that regardless of his political disagreement with her, he believes she should be able to run for office.
”I regret that politicians have voluntarily given this exorbitant power to the justice system. Everything will have to change,” Zemmour wrote on social media
MP Harold Huwart of the minority Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories (LIOT) group in the French National Assembly, has berated condemnations of the verdict as nearing the “peak of ridiculousness”.
”For years and years, MPs have been collectively voting for provisions that toughen sentences for elected officials in the name of fighting corruption,” he told the press.
Huwart added that while RN voters may be frustrated by the outcome of the trial, it was a logical consequence of criminal justice reforms stretching back decades.
Former French government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot, who is a member of the Renaissance party, has described the verdict as “justice served” in an interview with Franceinfo, urging people to respect the court’s ruling. Respecting the rule of law is required for the protection of democracy, she argued.
French MEP Francois-Xavier Bellamy, who serves as vice president of the Republicans, has called the sentence “a very dark day for French democracy” and “major interference in our democratic life,” regardless of people’s opinions of the National Rally.
”The candidate whom the polls actually place in the lead in the presidential election has been barred from running by a court decision: this unprecedented event will leave deep scars,” he said on X.
The French judicial system is “taking the risk of casting suspicion of arbitrariness” and needs to redeem itself in the eyes of the people by proving its impartiality, the politician added.
Le Pen’s lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, has announced his intention to appeal the verdict. He denounced the “provisional execution” ruling, which imposes an immediate political ban on his client and offers “no recourse” through the legal process.
Laurent Wauquiez, leader of The Republicans, a center-right parliamentary faction, has told BFM that “it is not healthy for an elected official in a democracy to be banned from running for office.”
He characterized the verdict as “very harsh” and “not the path we should have taken.”
Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV), has expressed “shock” at the verdict, describing it as incredibly tough.
“I support and believe in her for the full 100% and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France,” he said on X.
Left-wing party La France Insoumise has rejected the court's verdict to ban Le Pen from running for office.
The party “has never supported using the court to get rid of the National Rally,” a statement published by its national coordinator, Manuel Bompard, said. “We are fighting it at the ballot box and in the streets, through the popular mobilization of the French people, as we did during the 2024 legislative elections.”
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has described the verdict as “a declaration of war by Brussels,” claiming that it is being celebrated by those who “fear the judgment of the voters.”
In a post on X, he compared the outcome of the trial to the recent annulment of the presidential election in Romania, ordered by the Constitutional Court last December over claims of foreign interference. Calin Georgescu, an independent candidate who won the first round, has since been barred from participating in the new election.
Le Pen announced her appearance on TF1 TV later in the day.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described the verdict as the “agony of liberal democracy” in the EU.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a conservative politician whose views on the EU’s policies closely align with those of Le Pen, has expressed support for her on his social media. He posted the phrase “Je suis Marine!” (“I am Marine!” in French) on X and tagged her account.
The expression has become prominent internationally since the January 2015 terrorist attack on the French satirical outlet Charlie Hebdo, when it was widely used to make a stance against jihadism and attempts to silence free speech.
RN President Jordan Bardella has denounced the verdict, describing it on X as unjust. “It is French democracy that is being executed,” he wrote.
The RN has the largest faction in the National Assembly after the 2024 snap parliamentary election, with 125 of the 577 seats.
The results did not meet the party’s expectations, however, thanks to a last-minute maneuver by centrist forces which resulted in significant gains for the New Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing forces that collectively holds 193 seats.
Meanwhile, Macron leads a minority government formed by a four-way coalition and has struggled with getting his appointments and policies approved.
Le Pen previously described her potential ouster from the upcoming presidential election as “political death.” In 2022, she faced current President Emmanuel Macron in the second round, and lost by less than 10%. Macron will not run in 2027 due to term limits.
The court sentenced Le Pen to four years in jail, half suspended and two years of which she could serve under house arrest, unless the ruling is overturned. She was found guilty alongside eight MEPs, some of whom were ordered to serve time as well.
The party was punished financially, with the court ordering the confiscation of funds and a fine totaling €2 million ($2.2mn).
Le Pen reportedly left the courthouse during the verdict’s reading, after the decision that torpedoed her presidential ambitions was announced. The court granted the prosecutors’ request to enact the prohibition immediately, regardless of any appeals that the 56-year-old politician’s lawyers may seek against the verdict.
The constitutional legality of the punishment was confirmed last Friday in an unrelated case. The Constitutional Council, the nation’s top authority on these matters, confirmed that an immediate prohibition was compatible with basic law.