A Paris court has banned Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, from running for public office for the next five years. “This ruling serves only Russia’s interests, as it will undermine democratic procedures in Europe, deepen divisions, and polarize society,” said former Polish Prime Minister and current chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), Mateusz Morawiecki.
Le Pen Convicted
The Paris court found the French right-wing leader, Marine Le Pen, guilty of misusing public funds in a case concerning the fictitious employment of parliamentary assistants. But she wasn’t the only one. The court also found eight other co-defendants guilty.
Le Pen was handed an immediate five-year ban from holding public office. Additionally, she was sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended, though this part of the sentence does not take effect immediately. She was also fined €100,000.
Read more: [Marine Le Pen convicted by court. She is barred from running in elections]
A “Romanian Scenario” in Paris?
Asked by the Polish Press Agency (PAP) to comment on the court’s decision, former Prime Minister Morawiecki, who now leads the ECR party in the European Parliament, stated that the ruling plays directly into Russia’s hands. “Moscow is using this case—just as it did with Romania—to cast doubt on democratic procedures in Europe and sow division,” he said.
He recalled how earlier this year, courts in Romania “arrested the leading presidential candidate and previously annulled the election results, which Calin Georgescu had won in the first round.”
“The result of this ruling will weaken, not strengthen, democracy in France,” Morawiecki argued. He described it as an act of “revenge by certain liberal French elites” who are trying to exclude Le Pen from the democratic race.
Regarding the election ban, Morawiecki emphasized that the ruling represents “an attempt to strip people of their right to choose.”
He also drew parallels to events in Poland in 2023, claiming that “EU institutions and foreign organizations supporting the opposition orchestrated an attack on Poland’s democratic government.”
Morawiecki further compared the case to attempts to sideline U.S. President Donald Trump. However, he noted that such efforts ultimately “ended in Trump’s unconditional victory.”