The European Union Court rejected the appeal of the heirs of Jean-Marie Le Pen against a demanding decision of the former French leader of the National Front (now RN) that reimburses around 300,000 euros for industrial mandate costs to the European Parliament, this Wednesday, July 16.
The connected bracelets, ties and bottles of wine billed in the European Parliament were among the shopping list considered irregular in their MEP function.
The three daughters of the distant leader who died in January challenged the request notified in 2024 by the European Parliament. The EU court rejected its appeal, as well as the inequitable accusations of the procedure, according to a statement.
The decision will be “studied”
The three heirs, Marie-Caroline Olivier, Yann Maréchal and Marine Le Pen, “will study the decision with all the beneficiaries,” Marine Le Pen’s entourage told AFP.
This issue is different from that of the parliamentary attendees of the former National-International (now RN), which won in early 2025 in the condemnations of Paris to several figures of the party, including Marine Le Pen, the youngest of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
In this resonant archive, Marine Le Pen, twice qualified for the second round of the presidential elections in 2017 and 2022, was declared inexperible, which could deprive him of a new candidacy for the supreme elections in France in 2027.
The matter decided on Wednesday in Luxembourg by European judges this time refers to the expenses of Jean-Marie Le Pen that the European Office of Anti-Forest Fight (OLAF) had detailed in a investigation report: pen, visit cards, ties, umbrellas, kitchen scales, office watches, connected bracelets, virtual reality glasses or 129 bottles of wine.
For almost a decade, between 2009 and 2018, while satting in the European Parliament, the co -funding the National Front had managed to bill these costs under “the 400 Budget Line”, aimed at covering the operating expenses in the elected institution of the EU alone.
The withdrawal of the order occurs in January 2024. The Secretary General of Parliament informed the former non -agenarium Eurodiputa (he sat to him until 2019) of the accused irregularities, and gives him two months to present possible observations.
No compliance tests
On July 8, 2024, it was officially notified that Parliament claimed that it reimbursed 303,200.99 euros considered improperly. “No evidence of the use of credits has not been provided according to the applicable regulations,” said the EU court press release.
In its judgment, the Court established in Luxembourg indicates that the Parliament procedure that led to claim this refund “is not contrary to the principles of legal certainty and the protection of legitimate trust.” In addition, the Court adds, “the right to a fair trial has not been violated.”
Jean-Marie Le Pen had also been informed of Olaf’s initial investigation and invited to present her observations, she said. Requested by AFP, the European Parliament said “he took note of the Court’s decision.
Several financing scandals for the party
A limited appeal can be trained to legal problems before the EU Court of Justice within two months and ten days from the notification of the decision.
The former FN, which became a national concentration in 2018, now chaired by the Euro Jordan Bardella, has been splashed by several political financing scandals.
The most resounding is, with much, that of European parliamentary assistants, in the hands of French justice and resulted in a series of sentences on March 31, 2025 in Paris. Marine Le Pen, declared guilty of embezzlement of public funds, was declared ineligible for five years, but there will be an appeal trial, probably in early 2026.
Source: BFM TV
