Marine Le Pen's defense scored a point on the second day of the appeal trial over the Front National's European parliamentary assistants. The public prosecutor's office believes the party cannot be held accountable for unpursued contracts, as the tribunal ruled in March 2025. The court must rule on this legal issue on Thursday.
The appeal trial in the case of the Front National's (FN) European parliamentary assistants continued on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, on the second day of hearings. Marine Le Pen risks her eligibility for the presidential election in this matter. The defense gained support from the public prosecutor's office on a crucial point of law: the scope of the tribunal's jurisdiction.
The issue, arduously debated in autumn 2024 before the first-instance tribunal, concerns the possibility of prosecuting the party for "receiving stolen public funds." The investigating judge, in her referral order, had allowed this pursuit against the FN, even though the European deputies had not been charged for it. She relied on two rulings from the Court of Cassation, thereby extending the period of the offense's prevention and increasing the financial consequences.
The defense lawyers, including those for Marine Le Pen, Wallerand de Saint-Just (the party's treasurer), and Nicolas Crochet (accountant), had strongly protested this expansion. "The surprise, alleged [by the defense], is itself surprising," the prosecutors had retorted, mocking the argument that the ordinance's annexes were "decorative."
The public prosecutor's office, now aligned with the defense, rules that the FN cannot be held accountable for unpursued assistant contracts, confirming the tribunal's March 2025 decision. The appeal court must decide on Thursday on this technical debate, which could limit the scope of the prosecutions.