On day six of the Paris appeal trial over alleged misuse of EU funds by Rassemblement National (RN) parliamentary assistants, Perpignan mayor Louis Aliot invoked 'great disorder' on January 22, 2026, to explain hiring militant Laurent Salles without an interview. This follows Marine Le Pen's earlier testimony, as covered in our ongoing series.
The appeal trial of the former Front National (FN), now Rassemblement National (RN), European parliamentary assistants—accused of diverting EU funds to party work—continued in Paris on January 22, 2026. Louis Aliot, RN mayor of Perpignan and former MEP, was questioned about employing Laurent Salles as his assistant from July 2014 to February 2015. Salles, a 30-year FN militant and unemployed at the time, was recommended by then-party secretary general Nicolas Bay. As a new MEP, Aliot skipped a job interview; Salles learned of his role via email without prior personal contact.
'We talked about it in my office, but we were in great disorder, it was quite complicated to follow the movement,' Aliot told the court. He said Salles handled mail sorting at RN headquarters in Nanterre. Convicted in first instance on March 31, 2025, to 18 months' prison (12 suspended) and three years' ineligibility, Aliot retained his mayoral seat—the only RN win over 100,000 inhabitants in 2020—and eyes re-election in March 2026.
This follows Marine Le Pen's January 20-21 interrogation (see prior series article), where she conceded possible minor offenses but denied a systematic scheme. The trial, ongoing since January 13 and expected until mid-February, underscores long-standing scrutiny of RN practices in the European Parliament. Defendants question procedures, but the court seems skeptical.