The Business Times
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Global populists rally to France’s Le Pen

She has been found guilty of embezzling EU funds and barred from standing for public office for five years

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    • One way in which Monday's judicial decision will undermine French political stability is that the RN will now seek to make Le Pen into a far-right political martyr.
    • One way in which Monday's judicial decision will undermine French political stability is that the RN will now seek to make Le Pen into a far-right political martyr. PHOTO: REUTERS

    Andrew Hammond

    Published Wed, Apr 2, 2025 · 05:00 AM

    US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s tariffs dominate the global economic headlines this week. Yet, political debate in Europe, and internationally, is as focused on Monday’s (Mar 31) hugely consequential French court ruling that may prevent Trump-favourite and poll-frontrunner Marine Le Pen from running for the nation’s presidency in 2027.

    Monday’s decision, which found her guilty of embezzling EU funds and barred her from standing for public office for five years, could badly destabilise French politics and the second-largest economy in the European Union again. This after 2024 saw the nation go through no less than four prime ministers.

    It is possible, for instance, that Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) may now try to bring down the government of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou. His centrist MoDem party was – in 2024 – also ruled by courts to have been involved in misusing European Parliament funds to pay for party work in France, but Bayrou was not personally implicated.

    FranceMarine Le PenEuropean Union

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