All news
Marine Le Pen to be questioned for the first time at Paris tribunal
Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Union party in the French parliament, is expected to testify today in a case alleging that she was wrongly hired as an assistant to a member of the European Parliament, RIA Novosti reports.
Earlier, a trial began in Paris in the European Parliament's money laundering case against Marine Le Pen and other members of the National Coalition. They are accused of stealing money from the salaries of assistants who actually worked only for the National United Party. The investigation found that the party had appropriated 21,000 euros that Strasbourg allocated monthly to each member of the European Parliament to pay for the work of assistants.
We initially talked about the approximately 20 parliamentary assistant contracts that the party signed between 2004 and 2016. However, the court decided to take into account all contracts concluded during this period. This means that all parties are now defendants, not the original 25 defendants.
Marine Le Pen did not speak to the media when she arrived at the courthouse today and headed straight into the courtroom. Her lawyers plan to argue that the case was brought because of the court's poor understanding of the structure and functioning of French political parties. At the same time, the defense claims that none of the defendants got rich at the expense of the European Parliament.
At the start of the case, Marine Le Pen noted that she and members of her party “have not violated any political or regulatory rules of the European Parliament.” If Marine Le Pen is found guilty on all counts, she will, among other things, be disqualified from running in the 2027 presidential election.