Marine Le Pen will not be allowed to stand in France’s next presidential election after a court banned her from politics for five years.
The National Rally (RN) chief was found guilty of embezzling EU funds to pay party staff in a court ruling in Paris on Monday morning.
She was handed a four-year prison sentence, two of which will be served under house arrest and the other two suspended.
But Le Pen, who was also given a €100,000 euro (£83,600) fine, stormed out before she could hear the judge’s ruling.
The Paris ruling represents a hammer blow to her ambition of taking the Elysee, especially as she is riding high in the opinion polls ahead of the 2027 election.
The judge accused her of being “at the heart” of the embezzlement scheme.
Although Le Pen didn’t immediately comment, her supporters quickly expressed disapproval. Jordan Bardella, her 29-year-old protégé who could replace her on the ballot in 2027, said that Le Pen “is being unjustly condemned” and that French democracy “is being executed”.
Credit: Reuters
Le Pen, the hard-Right figurehead, is almost certain to appeal against the conviction, and neither the prison sentence nor the fine would be applied until her appeals are exhausted, which would probably take several years.
But her five-year ban from running for office begins immediately, with the Paris court’s head judge opting for the “provisional execution” measure that was requested by prosecutors.
The ban will only be lifted if the appeal is upheld before the election, which experts deem unlikely.
However she will retain her seat in the National Assembly until her mandate ends.
Le Pen, two dozen associates and the party itself were found guilty of diverting more than €4 million (£3.3 million) of EU money to pay for RN staff.
All the accused argued that the money was used legitimately and denied the allegations.
There was no immediate comment from Le Pen, who will appear on French broadcaster TF1 this evening.
Yesterday she seemed confident that she would not be banned from running for the presidency.
“I’ve read here and there that we’re feverish. Personally, I’m not, but I can understand why we might be: with provisional execution, the judges have the right of life or death over our movement,” she said in an interview with the French newspaper La Tribune du Dimanche.
It was reported that after storming out of court, Le Pen headed straight for the RN’s headquarters in western Paris for a meeting with Jordan Bardella, the party’s president.
Widely seen as her right-hand man, Mr Bardella said: “Today it is not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly condemned. It was French democracy that was killed.”
Mr Bardella, who succeeded Le Pen as party president in 2022, now looks set to become the RN’s de facto candidate for the 2027 election.
Jordan Bardella, National Rally’s president, seems set to become the party’s de facto candidate for the 2027 election – @J_Bardella/X
There have been questions about whether the 29-year-old is old enough to take her place but Le Pen endorsed him for the first time publicly late on Sunday.
“Of course he has the capacity to become president of the republic,” she told BFMTV.
But as she left the courtroom stony faced, the blow to her personal ambitions cannot be understated.
She has spent years trying to soften the image of her party, once led by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was convicted numerous times for racism and anti-Semitism.
She suffered her first defeat to Emmanuel Macron in 2017 but returned stronger in the 2022 elections, gaining 3 million more votes.
As party figurehead, she also presided over last year’s National Assembly elections, in which the RN became France’s single largest party.
Le Pen’s allies on the European hard-Right leapt to her defence after the court’s decision.
Within minutes of her ban being announced by the judge, Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, wrote “I am Marine” in a post on X.
Mr Orbán’s Fidesz party is in an alliance with Ms Le Pen’s National Rally in the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.
Meanwhile, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, has said the decision to ban Marine Le Pen from running for the presidency was a “declaration of war by Brussels”.
Mr Salvini said “those who fear the judgment of the voters often find reassurance in the judgment of the courts”.
There was even discontent among her political opponents.
Éric Coquerel, MP for radical Left party France Unbowed, who told LCI: “I don’t agree that things that should be decided by the ballot box are decided by the courts.”
“It will only paint the National Rally as a victim.”
03:44 PM BST
That’s all for today
Thank you for following our live coverage as Marine Le Pen was banned from running for public office for five years.
We will be back soon with more updates and analysis of where this leaves the far-Right leader and what happens next.
03:36 PM BST
More reaction across France’s political spectrum
The far-Left France Unbowed party said that it “never expected to use the courts as a way to get rid” of the National Rally.
In a statement, it said: “We fight them at the ballot box and in the streets, with the mobilisation of the French people, as we did during the 2024 legislative elections. We will fight again tomorrow in the polls, whoever is their candidate.”
Meanwhile, Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party, told Ms Le Pen to “respect” the judicial system.
“Ms. Le Pen is a politician who demands firmness on the part of the judiciary! Respect the judicial system then.”
Eric Ciotti, former leader of the centre-Right republicans, attacked the Paris court, saying the “democratic destiny of our nation confiscated by an outrageous judicial cabal.”
He added: “The favoured candidate in the presidential election prevented from running. This is not a simple dysfunction. It is a system to capture power that systematically throws aside any candidate that is too far to the right and who has a chance of winning.”
Eric Zemmour, president of France’s far-Right Reconquest party, also hit out the judges.
“It is not for judges to decide who the people must vote for. Whatever our disagreements, Marine Le Pen is legitimate to run for the vote.”
03:14 PM BST
Farage says Le Pen ‘cancelled’ on ‘very trumped-up charge’
Nigel Farage said Marine Le Pen has been “cancelled” on what he called a “very trumped-up charge”.
The Reform UK leader described the barring of the National Rally leader from public office as a “trend”.
Le Pen is “a candidate that would, without doubt, have won the next French presidential election. And you know what, if looks to me like a very trumped-up charge,” he told the BBC.
He suggested that Eurosceptic parties have been unfairly targeted with legal action.
“I don’t see how it could be possible the only people that have ever been in breach of EU funding rules are Eurosceptics. Just not possible,” he said.
03:04 PM BST
The French Right will survive the banning of Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen, hitherto the favourite to succeed Emmanuel Macron as French President, has been barred from standing for public office for five years with immediate effect after being found guilty of embezzlement to fund her party, writes Daniel Johnson.
For French politics, this is an earthquake.
Her angry reaction – storming out of court before the end of the two-hour judgement – indicates that the sentence is a devastating blow to the leader of the National Rally, who has been leading the polls for the 2027 presidential election. Although she will appeal, her candidacy is effectively over.
Still, Le Pen is nothing if not a fighter. At 56, she is certainly not ready to abandon what she sees as her destiny to lead France.
Marine Le Pen has been banned from French politics for five years – Michel Spingler/AP
02:45 PM BST
Le Pen’s appeal could take place ‘within months’
Olivier Prado, a legal expert, said Marine Le Pen got up and left because she clearly felt “this provisional ban is a political decision”.
As things stand she cannot run for French president in 2027.
However, he said an appeal could potentially take place within months, suggesting it was not impossible an appeals verdict could be handed down by early next year.
02:29 PM BST
Le Pen targeted for bringing RN closer to victory, says niece
Marine Le Pen’s niece Marion Maréchal, also a member of the European Parliament, said her aunt was only targeted because she “brought our camp on the path to victory”.
“That is the only thing she is guilty of, and that is why she was convicted. No one on the Right should pretend to be satisfied with this decision,” she said.
02:09 PM BST
Le Pen to file an appeal
Marine Le Pen will appeal a French court’s decision to ban her from running in the next presidential election, her lawyer has said.
“It’s a blow to democracy,” Rodolphe Bosselut told reporters outside National Rally (RN) headquarters in Paris. Le Pen is in a “fighting mood”, added Laurent Jacobelli, a RN lawmaker and party spokesman.
She could technically still run if she is successful in her appeal before the election but experts have warned the process will likely take years.
01:48 PM BST
Reaction from Telegraph commentators
Anne Elisabeth Moutet writes:
This is it for Marine Le Pen and her family’s political dynasty. But this is by no means the end for her party: Jordan Bardella, her almost certain successor, will prove more palatable to French voters who are adverse to voting for a three time loser.
Younger voters are more favourable to Bardella, and the party can present itself as a victim of the Left-wing French judiciary.
Zoe Strimpel writes:
The Le Pens have never been up to good, and Marine, for all her shape-shifting, is no different.
That she has been caught, like others in the populist Right, in defiance of the laws both of the land and of decency doesn’t really surprise me.
The question is whether she’ll do a Trump and use the conviction to her advantage, in the same childish spirit defiance as her yellow-headed American friend. Marine has not been without some persuasive ideas and her purported abandonment of anti-Semitism has been welcome.
But she was never a good ‘un and this proves it.
01:44 PM BST
Europe’s hard-Right closes ranks in support of Le Pen
A number of figureheads on the hard-Right of European politics have expressed support for Marine Le Pen after the embezzlement conviction.
Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom in Holland, said he was “shocked by the incredibly tough verdict against Le Pen”.
“I support and believe in her for the full 100 percent and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France,” he said.
Meanwhile, Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s Vox Party, said: “They will not succeed in silencing the voice of the French people.”
George Simion, Romania’s hard-Right presidential candidate, said: “Targeting or annihilating your political opponent by any means is straight out of the instruction manual of totalitarian regimes. This happened today in (France).”
01:22 PM BST
Le Pen paid a price for ‘systematic denial’, says lawyer
Patrick Maisonneuve, lawyer for the European Parliament, said Marine Le Pen and her party and colleagues had paid the price for their “systematic denial” of any wrongdoing throughout the trial.
That prompted judges to conclude that they could repeat the offence as they failed to acknowledge it or express any remorse.
“Throughout the 3 months of hearings, there was a systematic denial of what had happened during those years, and I’m convinced the court really took into account this stance of denial by saying that since you are in total denial, I believe that there is a risk of recidivism and therefore I’m applying the provisional ban,” he said after the verdict.
The lawyer said he was happy with the sentence and court’s demand that the National Rally repay the money illicitly used.
“On the organisation of the system that had been set up to embezzle funds from the European Parliament via the rules governing parliamentary assistants, there was clearly not a single discussion, not a single hesitation on the part of the court with regard to the conviction and in my position, that’s what I wanted to look for,” he said.
Patrick Maisonneuve speaks to the media after a guilty verdict in the embezzlement case of Marine Le Pen – Getty Images Europe
12:51 PM BST
Analysis: The unthinkable has happened
It was the verdict that Marine Le Pen and her party had feared but refused to believe. Even this weekend, the three-times presidential contender and National Rally figurehead offered reassuring noises that it would not come to pass.
But her worst fears have come to pass: a five-year electoral ban that comes into immediate effect. Adding to the humiliation, she has been handed a four-year prison term, two suspended and two under an electronic bracelet.
That means she cannot run for president in 2027 in what would have been her best chance yet of clinching the Elysée.
It is a hammer blow to the 56-year-old, who has spent years “de-demonising” the party formerly run by her late dad, Jean-Marie, a Holocaust denier.
The tactic has worked as her approval ratings are at record highs and a poll out this weekend suggested up to 37 per cent of French would vote for her in round one of the 2027 presidential election.
That placed her far ahead of the next runner, Edouard Philippe, Emmanuel Macron’s former prime minister.
There remains a glimmer of hope: an appeals trial in the coming months in which the sentence is reduced. An appeals court judge could also theoretically decide to suspend the provisional ban under certain conditions, say experts. Possible but far from assured.
If upheld, the verdict means she can remain MP until the end of her mandate but can not run for re-election to the National Assembly should Mr Macron dissolve parliament and call fresh snap elections – a decision he can take starting from June.
All eyes will now turn to the party’s “plan B” Jordan Bardella, the 29-year-old protégé. Does he have the shoulders for one of the world’s top jobs – French presidents wield huge powers? Many, including from his own camp, think not.
But there are no real alternatives at this stage.
12:35 PM BST
Ruling is ‘declaration of war’ by Brussels, says Italy’s deputy PM
Italy’s deputy prime minister has said the decision to ban Marine Le Pen from running for the presidency was a “declaration of war by Brussels”.
Matteo Salvini said “those who fear the judgement of the voters often find reassurance in the judgement of the courts”.
“In Paris they condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to exclude her from political life. A bad film that we are also seeing in other countries such as Romania.
“The one against @MLP_officiel is a declaration of war by Brussels, at a time when the warlike impulses of von der Leyen and Macron are frightening.
“We will not be intimidated, we will not stop: full speed ahead my friend!”
12:32 PM BST
France’s Left-wing indifferent to Le Pen ban
“We are not counting on the justice system to beat the National Rally,” said Eric Cocquerel from the radical Left France Unbowed party, LFI.
“We beat them in the last legislative elections and intend to beat them in the next presidential election.”
“The responsibility falls not on the judges but on the legislators who voted in this (2016) law, among them RN,” he said.
12:26 PM BST
Analysis: Le Pen ban is a gift for Europe’s nationalist Right
This is Marine Le Pen’s Donald Trump moment.
Mr Trump convinced voters he was a victim of “lawfare”, a witch hunt waged by an elite determined to block him from power.
He won November’s US presidential election, despite being convicted of 34 felonies and facing charges over allegations he tried to overturn the vote he lost to Joe Biden.
Ms Le Pen is now barred from running the next race for the Elysee, a defenestration at the top of France’s largest single party that will make the deeply polarised country even more impossible to govern.
This is a huge blow for the National Rally leader, who has gradually detoxified her party’s brand while edging closer to power over the past three French presidential elections.
But it is a gift for Europe’s nationalist Right, which will waste no time in transforming her into a martyr.
They will paint Ms Le Pen as a Joan of Arc, sacrificed in a Brussels-backed globalist conspiracy to prevent a Eurosceptic reaching the pinnacle of French politics.
Even before the verdict was read out in full, Hungary’s Viktor Orban was declaring “Je suis Marine!” on social media.
He wasn’t the only one to try and make political capital from the verdict. The Kremlin branded it a “violation of democratic norms”, while somehow managing to keep a straight face.
Marine Le Pen storms out of court after being found guilty of embezzling EU funds – AP
12:13 PM BST
Details of Le Pen’s sentence
As well as being banned from running for office for five years, Le Pen has been given a four-year prison sentence.
Two of those will be suspended, while the other two will be spent with an electronic tag rather than in custody.
She has also been given a €100,000 (£82,635) fine.
Le Pen is likely to appeal the sentence, meaning the jail term and fine will be put on hold, but the ban has been put into place immediately.
12:00 PM BST
Your views…
11:55 AM BST
Bardella: French democracy has been executed
French democracy has been “executed” after Marine Le Pen was banned from politics for five years, Jordan Bardella has said.
The RN chief has been “unjustly condemned, it is French democracy that has been executed,” Mr Bardella, the party’s president, said.
11:53 AM BST
A body blow to Le Pen’s presidential hopes
Legal experts have been saying this could occur but few in France really believed it would really happen.
Marine Le Pen has been eliminated from the 2027 presidential election in France and cannot appeal the ruling.
The provisional ban is immediate. She can keep her national mandates, namely as an MP, but cannot run for president even if she appeals.
11:51 AM BST
Le Pen banned from standing at next presidential election
Le Pen has been banned from standing at the next election, with the judge sentencing her to a five-year ban from politics.
She has been sentenced to four years in prison with two under an electronic bracelet and a 100,000 euro fine.
11:47 AM BST
Le Pen ban verdict next
We’ll bring you the exact details of the ban as they come in.
11:39 AM BST
Le Pen heads to meet Bardella at party HQ
Le Pen has arrived at her party’s HQ in western Paris ahead of a meeting with its president Jordan Bardella.
She remained tight-lipped as reporters asked her about the judge’s decision.
11:36 AM BST
Former RN deputy banned for three years
Louis Aliot, former number two of the National Rally, is sentenced to 18 months in jail, 12 suspended. The rest will be under an electronic bracelet.
He has been hit with a three year ban but no provisional one “to preserve the freedom of voters who chose their mayor”, says the judge.
11:35 AM BST
Europe ‘violating democratic norms’, says Kremlin
The Kremlin has slammed a French court’s ruling to bar far-Right leader Marine Le Pen from running for office over a fake jobs scheme.
“More and more European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms,” a Kremlin spokesman told reporters in a briefing when asked about the decision.
Le Pen was long an admirer of Vladimir Putin, even at one point putting a photo of her with the Russian president on a campaign brochure before hastily removing it over the Ukraine war.
She has since distanced herself from the Russian leader but has been lukewarm on helping Ukraine, insisting it should only get “defensive weapons”.
11:30 AM BST
Watch: Le Pen storms out of court
Here’s footage of Le Pen leaving the courtroom before hearing the details of her ban.
We know it will be immediate but we don’t know how long for.
Credit: Reuters
11:28 AM BST
‘Je suis Marine’: Orbán voices support for Le Pen
Viktor Orbán has tweeted his support to Marine Le Pen.
“Je suis Marine!”, he said on X after she was banned from French politics.
The Hungarian prime minister’s Fidesz party is in an alliance with Ms Le Pen’s National Rally in the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.
Today’s judgement relates to the embezzlement of EU funds dating back to before the founding of that group.
11:25 AM BST
Le Pen associate given two-year ban from politics
Catherline Griset, Le Pen’s former parliamentary attaché and close friend, has been handed a one-year suspended prison sentence and a two-year electoral ban.
We’re still waiting to her the details of her ban.
Julien Odoul, a well-known party figure, has been handed an eight-month suspended prison term.
His sentence is accompanied by a one-year ineligibility period, without provisional ban.
Le Pen ally Eric Ciotti is amongst the first to react. He said he wondered “if France is still a democracy”.
11:14 AM BST
Le Pen storms out of court
Le Pen has left the court without hearing the duration of the provisional ban. It could mean she is banned from running in the 2027 presidential race, depending on the length.
Even before the final sentence, French commentators are already talking about a judicial and political “earthquake” that has blindsided Le Pen and her party.
11:10 AM BST
Length of ban unclear
Le Pen will receive a provisional ban, says the presiding judge.
That is a blow but we now are awaiting the duration. If the provisional ban is less than 18 months, she can still run for president.
10:52 AM BST
‘System’ involving ‘fictitious contracts’ existed in RN, says judge
The nine MEPs and 12 assistants found guilty signed ‘fictitious contracts’ and there was indeed a ‘system’ within the party, said presiding judge Bénédicte de Perthuis.
“It has been established that all these people were in fact working for the party, that their MEP had not entrusted them with any tasks’ and that they ‘moved from one MEP to another”, she went on.
“It was not a question of pooling the work of the assistants but rather of pooling the MPs‘ envelopes”, she went on.
“Let’s be clear: no one is on trial for playing politics, that’s not the point. The issue was whether or not the contracts were respected”, said the judge.
10:43 AM BST
No ‘personal enrichment’ for Le Pen, says judge
The presiding judge has said that Marine Le Pen had been “at the heart of this system since 2009” but that there was no “personal enrichment”.
Bénédicte de Perthuis also slammed the “cynicism and determination” of the National Front and its successor National Rally to misuse funds from the European Parliament and European taxpayers.
As a reminder, beyond an electoral ban, Marine Le Pen risks a maximum five-year prison term, including three years suspended. The remaining two years could be served with an electronic bracelet.
We’re expecting her verdict later today.
10:38 AM BST
Who could replace Le Pen if she is banned?
In a documentary broadcast by BFMTV late on Sunday, Marine Le Pen for the first time explicitly gave her blessing to Jordan Bardella becoming president. “Of course he has the capacity to become president of the republic,” she said.
But there are doubts even within the party over the so-called “Plan B” (for Bardella) and whether he has the experience for a presidential campaign.
10:18 AM BST
Le Pen’s opponents reject ban from politics
Some of Marine Le Pen’s staunchest opponents have spoken out against her being banned from running for president.
These include Éric Coquerel, MP for radical Left party France Unbowed, LFI, who told LCI: “I don’t agree that things that should be decided by the ballot box are decided by the courts.”
“It will only paint the National Rally as a victim.”
10:12 AM BST
Le Pen guilty of misappropriating €474,000
Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of misappropriating €474,000, in particular for the contracts of her bodyguard, Thierry Légier, and her former parliamentary attaché, Catherine Griset.
“Catherine Griset worked for Marine Le Pen, but not as a member of parliament in Brussels,” the presiding judge, Bénédicte de Perthuis, told the Paris criminal court.
10:04 AM BST
Inside the courtroom
Marine Le Pen shook her head when she learnt that her close friend and ex-sister-in-law Catherine Griset, who is MEP, was found guilty.
09:53 AM BST
Le Pen found guilty
Marine Le Pen and 8 other MEPs have been found guilty of misappropriating funds in the case of the parliamentary assistants of the Front National, now National Rally.
This conviction automatically entails a penalty of ineligibility for Marine Le Pen. It remains to be seen whether this sentence will be “provisionally enforceable” and therefore immediate.
The 12 assistants on trial alongside the MEPs were also found guilty of concealing misappropriated funds. The court ruled that they had got “the European Parliament to pay for people who were actually working for the party” to the tune of €2.9 million.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the late former leader, was a “beneficiary” of the fake jobs scam, said the judge.
09:39 AM BST
Judge warns of ‘long’ wait for verdict
The presiding judge has started speaking but has warned the court they will not get the verdict straight away.
‘It’s going to be a little long,’ warned judge Bénédicte de Perthuis at the outset. “There is no desire on the part of the court to maintain suspense, but it will proceed as usual, giving a number of explanations of the decision taken,” she went on.
“We have clearly understood that what is at stake goes beyond this courtroom, but the court will proceed as usual,” she added, in front of Marine Le Pen, seated in a blue jacket in the front row, alongside party vice-president Louis Aliot, who risks losing his post as mayor of Perpignan today.
09:31 AM BST
Judge begins reading out verdicts
The Paris criminal court’s head judge has begun reading out verdicts but it could be hours before we learn the fate of Marine Le Pen.
Le Pen and 24 other RN officials are accused of running an extensive scheme over many years to embezzle EU funds.
There are no cameras or recording devices allowed inside the court.
09:14 AM BST
Criticising guilty verdict a ‘double-edged sword’
Criticising a guilty verdict would be double-edged, points out Mathieu Croissandeau, political analyst for BFMTV.
“For (the National Rally), justice is never harsh enough when it comes to criminals but always too hard when it comes to politicians.”
There is a risk that a guilty verdict could be taken as a “denial of democracy” by public opinion, whose faith in French institutions, including the judiciary, is already low, adds Croissandea.
He also warns Le Pen’s National Rally could decide to wreak “revenge” on President Macron and the minority government by backing a no-confidence motion to bring it down. So far, it has abstained.
09:03 AM BST
Le Pen: Judges could kill our movement
Marine Le Pen declined to speak this morning.
However, she expressed her confidence last night in an interview with La Tribune du Dimanche.
She said: “I’ve read here and there that we’re feverish. Personally, I’m not, but I can understand why we might be: with provisional execution, the judges have the right of life or death over our movement.”
09:00 AM BST
Le Pen arrives at court
Marine Le Pen has arrived at the Paris criminal court ahead of this morning’s verdict.
Marine Le Pen arrives at the courtroom for her embezzlement case – Getty Images Europe
08:57 AM BST
Analysis: Le Pen’s political future hangs in the balance
Make no mistake, Marine Le Pen’s political fate hangs in the balance this morning.
Few expect the Paris criminal court to clear her on all counts in the EU parliamentary money affair given the damning evidence laid out during the trial.
But guilt is not the issue here. The number one “sword of Damocles” hanging over her is an automatic five-year ban from holding electoral office.
In her words, it would spell her “political death” and would upend French politics just two years before presidential elections that Le Pen is increasingly confident she can win. An Ifop poll yesterday placed her way out in front in voter intentions for the first round.
The feeling even amongst the party faithful is that 29-year-old dauphin Jordan Bardella doesn’t have the experience and stature to fill her shoes should she be disqualified.
Anything short of automatic ineligibility could work in Le Pen’s favour, however, as it will likely galvanise supporters who – like Trump fans – see the trial as a political cabal and allow her to fight on, down but not out.
The clock is ticking.
08:46 AM BST
Four outcomes for Le Pen
Marine Le Pen could be cleared of all blame. Legal experts believe the case against the politician and her associates is strong, so this is unlikely.
She could be convicted by judges but not make her ban from politics automatic. She could appeal the ban, which would not come into effect until after a second and potentially third trial.
This could allow her to run for president, depending on how long the process takes.
Judges could order an automatic ban from politics. Le Pen would appeal, but only the sentence – which involves a five-year prison sentence and a fine – would be suspended. As a result, she would be banned from running for president in 2027.
The court could also reduce the length of her ban from politics from five years to one or two, meaning she may be able to run in 2027.
08:36 AM BST
What is Le Pen accused of?
Marine Le Pen has been accused of misusing EU funds to hire party staff when she was a member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2017.
It was allegedly claimed at the time that the staff had been working on an EU basis but the claim is that they were actually working for the RN in France.
Prosecutors have also accused 24 high-ranking officials of similar charges, claiming the party misused €3m of EU money.
All the accused have denied the charges.
08:32 AM BST
Welcome to our live coverage
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage as Marine Le Pen faces a ban from French politics.
We’ll bring you all the latest updates and analysis as it happens.
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