Marine Le Pen, the former president of the Rassemblement National (RN) party, has been sentenced to four years in prison—two of which are to be served in detention—and subjected to a five-year ineligibility period following a conviction related to the misuse of European Parliament funds.

The Paris court's decision marks a significant setback for Le Pen, effectively ruling out her candidacy for the 2027 French presidential election.

The court found Le Pen and 24 co-defendants guilty of establishing an organized system of embezzling public funds from the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016. The RN was accused of hiring fictitious parliamentary assistants, who were compensated with funds intended for legitimate parliamentary activities, while carrying out party-related work in France.

As a result of the ruling, the five-year ineligibility sentence is provisionally enforceable, meaning it becomes effective immediately, even if Le Pen decides to appeal the verdict.

This decision ends her aspirations for the presidency, following previous candidacies in 2012, 2017, and 2022.

In addition to the prison sentence, Le Pen was ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros.

Other notable figures sentenced in the case include Louis Aliot, the mayor of Perpignan; Wallerand de Saint-Just, the former party treasurer; and Marion Maréchal, Le Pen’s niece, who left the party in 2022.

Following the ruling, Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and founder of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, expressed his support for Le Pen, stating, "Je suis Marine!" The Kremlin also responded, characterizing the conviction as a violation of democratic norms.

Meanwhile, Italian Vice-Premier Matteo Salvini condemned the ruling as a declaration of war by the European Union, criticizing the actions of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron as aggressive.