Political earthquake in France - Rule of Law Programme Southeast Europe
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Political earthquake in France
byAnja Czymmeck, Max Willem Fricke, Nele Katharina Wissmann
How the court judgement against representatives of the Rassemblement National is being twisted by the right-wing populists as the end of the French constitutional state
On Monday, 31 March 2025, the former party leader and current parliamentary group leader of the right-wing populist party Rassemblement National (RN), Marine Le Pen, and eight of the party's MEPs were found guilty of embezzling public funds. The party representatives are alleged to have set up a ‘system of embezzlement’ of EU funds between 2004 and 2016 for the recruitment of parliamentary staff to finance the party's political activities. The damage was estimated by the European Parliament at almost 7 million euros. The twelve parliamentary assistants who also stood trial were found guilty of receiving stolen goods.
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