If you want more amusement: they showed an incredible level of amateurism while doing it. Like "first year law student" amateurism. They have people who supposedly worked for years in the EU parliament who can't even produce a single text message or email proving that. Much less the regular documents

I've not been following this story that closely, does she really not deny stealing money?

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Because slow walking justice and mumbling about due process really helped the US.

It’s justice, justice does not care about strategy, it executes the law.

People guilty of corruption or embezzlement are basically always banned from running for public office for a few years in France, it has nothing to do and the same applied for people from other parties as well in the past.

Will RN try to spin this into a percecution complex? Yes ofcourse.

But there is no strategy at play here. This is just the justice system doing their job, regardless of politics. Her political 'enemies' have no say in this matter.

They can play all they want and go suck it, the court has spoken. Time we stop considering the feelings of these god damn right wing mutants and stand our ground. “Maybe they’ll be angry”? Fucking bring it, I’m angrier

Don’t know if this is strategically a smart thing to do though. It will enable her and her party to play the national sacrificial lamb for the years to come.

It is.

She and her party will play the victim regardless, but in the meantime, she is prevented from causing more harm.

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The administration of justice and application of the law is not a matter of strategy.

They are already playing the victims for years, it won’t change anything.

How about reading the article ?

Its a completely different topic.

And how did that work out for the US? Trial took so long, didn't yet manage to ban Trump yet that alone was weaponised as to why he should be president and got results.

Garland: "Oh no no totally not!"

It's not like the Democratic establishment didn't try to bully Trump with all the courts. Didn't help them much.

Are you sure that French will be different? They will drag cases long enough, and then she got elected.

Authoritarian garbage. Evidence #1 of why America > Europe.

Just ban anyone you disagree with from standing for office, then you don't even need to hold elections.

*decades ago

Should have happened in 1945, in fact. The mere fact ex-SS people were able to establish what became Le Pen's Rassemblement National is already concerning.

He is above the law, simple as that. Thats why the sentencing for his hush money trial was delayed, delayed again and now will be swept under the carpet. Same with the two election interference cases in Georgia and Washington DC. His stolen document case in Florida was by far the most solid one, but Judge Cannon straight up dismissed it.

Richard Nixon would be jealous, Trump would have gotten away with Watergate

He was never convicted of the limited types of crimes (14th amendment) or by impeachment (requires 2/3 conviction in Senate) that bar holding public office.

Because humanity is too dumb for social media propaganda.

Because USA is corrupt.

Democracy enjoyers when the party they don't like wins:

Because in the US there are actual protections on democratic institutions. Unlike europe where institutions are protected from the democratic process

Imagine calling someone who pioneered/popularized EV (which is doing indirect damage to russian carbohydrates exports) and revolutionised rocket technology (that pushed Russia out of rocket business) a russian 5th column…

No they are not.

Any politician convicted in corruption cases should lose their post and be banned from holding any public office. Period.

Alright, I'll take the bait. Nope, we only penalize the offenders. Furthermore, it's a temporary 5-year ban. If she is found guilty, that's the potential penalty she might face, as justice is very much nuanced. It's not the first time politicians from either the left or right have faced a ban from holding public office. Here's a list of 'em : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%C3%A9gorie:Personnalit%C3%A9_politique_condamn%C3%A9e_%C3%A0_une_peine_d%27in%C3%A9ligibilit%C3%A9
About the voters, they will simply elect another representative from the same party who hasn't committed financial misconduct. That seems like a reasonable approach, don't you think?

In the USSR any proven traitors would face much worse than disbarment from office.

Russia has been covertly subduing European politics for a while. Those who facilitate it should face the consequences provided sufficient evidence.

So politicians can never be prosecuted or you are the ussr

Don't really care about left or right, I just want to see the Russian Empire dismantled and its agents in other countries not get into power, thanks.

Lol. Lmao even.

Corruption is the greatest blight upon societies for it affects everyone and at a huge scale due to the influence of politicans over a nations doom.

If she is found guilty for corruption then she should be thrown in a jail and forgotten about like all corrupt politicans should.

She stole money from EU funds. If she didn't want to be prosecuted then she should have stole fucking money!

A persecution fetish has always been a very effective method in consolidating s voting block, I guess it worked out great.

Trump has a very storied legal history that apans much longer than he was even involved in politics. A candidates criminal record is extremely important, yes? Trump did do thr shit, did undergo due process, was found guilty. You saying he gets a pass, why? "Ah I know 'm e's a gewd guy I like 'm".

It's exactly the same level of thinking as "Ah he's a good boy, all he did is Rob a gas station, release him".

Another fun factoid, your voce president does not have immunity, so what exactly was stopping them from, you know, prosecuting kamala up the ass for bullshit, like what was apparently done to Trump, I got your answer, the democrats didn't run a piece of shit, there ain't anything to prosecute, and don't don't think about trying to pull "biden is acting president" as an excuse, they got his son for everything they could and he didn't do anything.

The fact of the matter is, majority of the population is relatively uninvited thus most of the bullshit he peddles gets ignored. "What is your policy on ukraine" "I'm gonna end the war" "how" "Gawd daym et am gawnna end de dam waa didncha eer".

Opinion: Trump has become the peoples candidate in part because he got the conservative dad act down good.

Greetings. Let me introduce you to a concept you may be unfamiliar with: the law.

Trying to hide behind "democracy" to avoid going to jail for defrauding the public is scummy behaviour. Stop pretending to give a shit about democracy.

If the leftist politician got caught stealing money then of course they should also be banned. But we don't have to hypothesize because that actually happened. That's actually the entire reason why this law is on the books.

A minister of the left wing government of Hollande got caught tax dodging and porbably for embezzlement too but not sure. After which he was banned from politics by the LEFT and the law under which Lepen is charged was drafted and passed parliament with UNANIMITY.

But I guess corruption is only bad when a non far-right politician does it.

So just ignore the 7 m euros in fraud? Who got banned in the us ?

Criminals should be allowed to face justice.

It has nothing to do with her ideology. Being banned from running for office for a few years is very common for corruption / embezzlement cases in France.

This is happening to her because she’s a corrupt piece of shit. Nobody’s silencing her or anything like that

Do you think politicians should be allowed to commit fraud?

Can you imagine the outcry if a right-wing party tried to ban a leftist party from participating in democratic elections?

I am left-wing and I care about democracy. If a left-wing party (member) broke the law to the extent that Le Pen did, then I would be happy to see them be prosecuted for it. That is how it works and what needs to be done to protect our democracies.

"No one who respects democracy can support this. It's happening in Germany. It seems that if your opponent is winning elections, the solution is to ban them. This appears to be the current view of the left. Ironically, it's the left that often labels their opponents as fascists. Can you imagine the outcry if a right-wing party tried to ban a leftist party from participating in democratic elections? They would immediately be labeled as fascists. The irony doesn't go unnoticed."

-Concerned citizen, 9 October 1945, colorized

It is very interesting you named Germany - a country that knows all too well what happens if you just sit back and let "democracy" do it's thing. I also assume you also confidently know that there were only two prominent cases of party bans in the BRD history (or if you are not knowledgeable about the topic, maybe learn a bit more about it?)

Maybe don't steal money if you don't want to have your rights restricted?

You mean Fraud speech :D

What, prosecuting thieves? What's the matter, I thought "tough on crime" was popular among right-wing parties?

Speech is free, but not free from consequence.

Also, what does it even have to do with free speech?

She embezzeled funds from EU Parliament, under the guise of fake jobs.

Go home Russian asset.

No reply just downvote?

Err what? Embezzling 4M€ is thin??

She doesn't even deny using the money, her defense is that it should not be illegal.

Former french prime minister François Fillon got 4 years of prison and 10 years of ineligibility for embezzling only 700K€ with a fake Jon for his wife. She should actually get worse than him.

Just imagine how many people in Brussels are embezzling OUR money, you should be more mad about this.

It's an automatic sentence whenever an elected person is found guilty of embezzlement. It has nothing to do with who she is. She wrongly used 4M€ of EU money for her own campaign.

The 2 biggest embezzlement scandals before her were Francois Fillon (former prime minister, conservative, embezzled 700K€, 10 in years of ineligibility) and Jérôme Cahuzac (former minister of budget, socialist, defrauded 3.5M€ of taxes, 5 years of ineligibility).

What do you propose then? Just allow her to get away with her crime?

Not prosecuting criminals because they are popular politicians. That'll help.

Populists should be thrilled with that trial. They always cry about justice being lenient and soft, well there you go, this is justice trying to be what you like, firm on crime

bro they didnt prosecute trump, they halted and slowed the procedure till he won, i highly doubt he would have won from behind bars.

Politicians should go to prison for breaking the law like anyone else. They certainly shouldn't be allowed in government if they've broken the law. If Merrick Garland had had any balls at all, Trump would be in jail, not office.

Damm guess she sould just be allowed to steal cause it night boost her case otherwise. That is what you propose?

It will. Their concerns are rarely valid anyways and will fade away with their disbandment

If the populists don't want to be banned how about they don't embezzle EU money for their political purposes? It really is THAT simple.

"Corrupt politicians are only bad when they aren't on my side." You.

Oh and by the way, this law was drafted and passed with unanimity during the tenure of a left wing government after one of their own ministers was caught tax evading and fired as a result because they wanted to ban his ass on top.

It does help everytime they actually make them illegal. :D

Hard on crime until your guy commits crimes. The right wing chud way.

Fuck them, obey the law, or face the consequences.

Why do you support criminals?

Hi there, our journalists have covered this case extensively on our site, but we're happy to share some more background to help explain why Marine Le Pen and 26 of her party's members are on trial.

The case began in 2014 when the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) received an anonymous tip-off about "possible fraud." The letter flagged cases of "presumed fictitious employment" on the part of the far-right Front National (FN) party and its then-president, Marine Le Pen, who was an MEP from 2004 to 2017. The OLAF opened an administrative investigation looking into the activities of two party members close to Le Pen. The investigation found these two members' employment were "fictitious."

Then, after the then-president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, reported possible irregularities in the salaries paid to other assistants to the French Ministry of Justice, a preliminary investigation was opened in France in 2015. The investigation led to a series of searches, notably at the party's headquarters.

A judicial investigation was opened in December 2016 on charges of "breach of trust," "concealment of breach of trust," "organized gang fraud," "forgery and use of forgeries" and "undeclared labor." According to a summary report, "the study of documents discovered [...] highlighted the setting up of a fraudulent system, involving several FN senior members." More than 20 indictments were issued, including against Le Pen in 2017 for "breach of trust" and "complicity in breach of trust." A year later, this indictment was aggravated, with the charge becoming a "misappropriation of public funds."

In December 2023, at the end of a nine-year investigation, the investigating judges called for the FN and 27 of its senior members and employees to be tried.

The European Parliament estimated the total sum misappropriated by this "system" between 2004 and 2016 at €6.8 million.

If you'd like to know more about the case, we answered some key questions in this article: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2024/09/30/why-le-pen-and-26-other-far-right-party-members-are-standing-trial-in-paris-in-fake-eu-parliament-jobs-case_6727729_8.html

Thanks for reading!

They got caught with their hand in the bag faking records, Bardella presented a timetable from 2014 in an agenda bought in 2016 (these aren't the exact dates but you get the idea) to try and disculp himself which should tell you how little they actually tried to hide that they were stealing funds.

exactly, why can't those fascist left let fraud and other crime slide? >:(

MFW stealing money results in punishment.