The nine-week trial could have a major impact on Le Pen‘s political career as she probably wants to run for president in 2017.
She appeared confident and purposeful in court and stated in a loud voice that she absolutely does not feel that she is guilty of the slightest illegality.
Le Pen and about 25 party colleagues are accused of having misused EU funds to finance the party’s activities in France instead of covering expenses in connection with the work in the EU Parliament. Le Pen denies the accusations.
She will answer questions from the judges for three days until Wednesday, including that EU funds were used to pay salaries to her bodyguard, chief of staff and two other employees of the National Gathering party.
In court on Monday, she went into depth about her opinion that the role of EU parliamentarians is far more than just preparing and voting on EU regulations, such as promotion in the press, meetings with voters, meetings in the party and presence at other events.
She pointed out that the French National Assembly considers all political activity to be within the mandate of the elected representatives, and that this should also be the case in the EU Parliament.
The trial began two weeks ago and is expected to last nine weeks. Le Pen and the other defendants risk up to ten years in prison and fines of up to one million euros if they are found guilty. They can also lose their civil rights and be denied standing for election.
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