The Paris appeal court has upheld Marine Le Pen's conviction for misusing EU funds but shortened her sentence in a way that clears the path for her to stand in the April 2027 French presidential election. A five-year ban on holding public office was reduced and backdated to March 2025, with the court deeming that penalty already served, while she also received a one-year term under house arrest wearing an electronic ankle tag. The ruling matters because Le Pen currently leads the opinion polls and the outcome largely determines whether she, or her 30-year-old protégé Jordan Bardella, will lead the hard-right National Rally into the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron, who cannot stand again.

Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds meant for MEPs between 2004 and 2016 to pay party staff, a fake-jobs scheme the court said originated with her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and which she continued. Her three-year sentence comprises two years suspended and one year on an electronic tag, and she has already served the 15 non-suspended months since her original conviction on 31 March 2025; in theory she could seek to have the tag term reduced for good behaviour. Le Pen has repeatedly said she would not campaign while wearing a tag, arguing a candidate needs "total freedom of movement", and was expected to reveal her decision in a live TF1 interview. Opponents were critical, with the Greens' Marine Tondelier saying there had been no judicial conspiracy and that Le Pen had "benefited from considerable leniency", while co-defendant Bruno Gollnisch branded the verdict hypocritical.