Not much happened since Monday. So, a review article by Le Monde in English.
What an opening paragraph:
The slow-burning fuse was lit by Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2004, and the bomb exploded on Monday, March 31, at Paris’ Judicial Court, shattering the political ambitions of his daughter, Marine Le Pen, and sending shockwaves throughout the French political arena. But by continuing and systematizing the embezzlement of European taxpayer money to sustain the far-right Front National (FN, now Rassemblement National, RN) party, which was struggling financially at the time, and to pay a few close associates, the younger Le Pen caused her own downfall.
The question of why immediate ban for elected positions has an answer: risk of recidivism because the defendant disdain facts coming out of the investigation.
The court did not appreciate the defense strategy employed by Le Pen’s lawyers, consisting of reducing the trial to a simple difference in how to interpret the role of a parliamentary assistant. They showed an “asserted impunity” and “disdain for the manifestation of the truth,” according to the decision, which led the court to believe that the “risk of recidivism” was real, hence why the ban on running for office was immediately applied. “If a defendant who merely defends themselves is immediately considered to be a potential recidivist, then (…) let us say that, outside of admission of guilt, there is no other solution. It’s surreal!” said Le Pen’s lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, on the news channel BFM-TV.
And the uncomfortable truth, Marine Le Pen gets support in social media from Orban and Trump, locally…
The shockwave has, however, spread well beyond the RN, as Le Pen’s removal from the 2027 race for the presidency could change everything on the right. Indeed, in 2022, she had been the strongest obstacle against an alliance between the right and the far right. Moreover, she and far-right rival Eric Zemmour harbored mutual animosity, while Bardella and Zemmour-aligned MEP Sarah Knafo are on better terms…Finally, the republican right could see Bardella as a less stubborn rival, even a potential partner.
This is a bit uncomfortable. Anyway, the underlying truth is that the recently deceased Jean-Marie Le Pen was party leader since the start of the money rerouting in 2004 until 2011.
Through its decision, the Paris Judicial Court may have kicked off a new political realignment. As for Jean-Marie Le Pen, the precursor of the European Parliament embezzlement scheme, who died on January 7, aged 96, he has posthumously shaken up his political movement one more time.