The noose is tightening on Marine Le Pen. This week, the French Council of State rejected Marine Le Pen’s appeal against the immediate enforcement of her ineligibility penalty, which bars her from running in the 2027 presidential election.
On March 31, 2025, Marine Le Pen was convicted by the French courts in the European parliamentary assistants case, in which she was accused of embezzling European funds for the benefit of her party, the Rassemblement National (RN).
The fine and prison sentence were accompanied by a measure of ineligibility, with immediate effect, which prevent her from standing in new elections—whether legislative in the event of snap elections, or presidential.
Upon the announcement of the judgement, Marine Le Pen used all the levers at her disposal to challenge the sentence. She appealed her conviction: the appeal judgement is due to be handed down on January 13, 2026. She also referred the matter to the Council of State, a necessary preliminary step before referring it to the Constitutional Council on a QPC (Priority Question of Constitutionality), concerning the immediate enforcement of her sentence of ineligibility, which she believes hinders her freedom to stand for election and the voter’s freedom of choice—given that she represents France’s leading party, with an estimated 13 million potential voters.
The Council of State issued its opinion on Wednesday, October 15th, rejecting her request: Marine Le Pen is therefore not authorised to refer her case to the Constitutional Council.
The Council of State’s opinion is based on legal considerations rather than the merits of the case. Marine Le Pen challenged the refusal of the then prime minister, François Bayrou, to repeal the provisions of the electoral code that had allowed her to be removed from the electoral roll. The Council has taken the view that if Bayrou had granted her request, it would have amounted to a change in the law, which was beyond his power.
The Council of State is normally there to act as a ‘filter’ for requests submitted to the Constitutional Council. But in this specific case, it seems clear that the administrative body has no desire for Le Pen’s case to be examined and for a ruling to be made in her favour.
However, all hope is not yet lost. The appeal hearing will be held at the Paris Court of Appeal between January 13 and February 12 in 2026. Although Le Pen’s appeals to the administrative court and the European Court of Human Rights have not yet been successful, several factors could lead the Paris Court of Appeal to rule differently.
On October 17th, two days after the Council of State’s ruling on Le Pen, the same body decided to allow two MEPs who had also been sentenced to ineligibility with immediate enforcement to remain in office until a final ruling had been handed down in their cases. Until then, national case law had held that convicted national MPs should remain in office; now, this case has been extended to MEPs. This decision therefore reinforces the feeling that Le Pen was the subject of a particularly unfair and politically motivated ruling.
Another argument may be used in her favour in the appeal proceedings. Le Pen was convicted for acts relating exclusively to her mandate as an MEP. However, while European law requires the punishment of fraud and misappropriation of European funds, it does not require that such offences be punished by ineligibility for national office. The treaties even place matters relating to internal elections outside the EU’s jurisdiction. For all these reasons, there is therefore a substantial possibility that the immediate enforcement of Marine Le Pen’s ineligibility will not be upheld in future judgments. The question remains: will politics be stronger than justice?
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