A Paris court has set January 2026 for Marine Le Pen’s appeal trial over a corruption conviction, a decision that could make or break her hopes of running in the 2027 presidential election.
Marine Le Pen’s political future will hang in the balance early next year, after a Paris court confirmed that her appeal trial in the so-called “parliamentary assistants” affair will take place from 13 January to 12 February 2026.
The decision on dates was, announced by the Paris Court of Appeal on Monday.
In March 2025, the three-time presidential candidate was handed a heavy sentence: five years of ineligibility, enforceable immediately, and four years in prison, two of them to be served under electronic tagging.
Unless overturned, the ruling would bar her from standing in the 2027 presidential race – a devastating blow to the far-right leader who had been preparing another run for the Elysée.
Her lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, had argued that the appeal should be scheduled after the municipal elections of March 2026, warning that political and judicial calendars risked colliding.
Prosecutors, however, pushed for an earlier hearing, determined to keep the case well clear of the presidential contest.
In the end, the court opted for January, promising a verdict well before the summer of 2026.
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Fraud convictions
At the heart of the case lies allegations of a long-running fraud scheme said to have operated between 2004 and 2016, in which party staff were paid with European Parliament funds.
In the first trial, Le Pen, her National Rally, and two dozen allies were found guilty of siphoning off an estimated €3.2 million.
While some co-defendants have accepted their convictions, twelve figures – including Perpignan’s mayor Louis Aliot, MP Julien Odoul and veteran party members Bruno Gollnisch and Wallerand de Saint-Just – have joined Le Pen in appealing the decision.
That narrower line-up means the retrial is expected to be shorter than the original, which ran for two months in late 2024.
The consequences of her conviction have already sent ripples through French politics.
Prime Minister François Bayrou admitted to being “troubled” by the severity of the sentence, while within the far right, the prospect of a “Plan B” candidate, such as party president Jordan Bardella, has been openly discussed.
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Legal battles
For Le Pen herself, the appeal represents not only a legal battle but also a race against time to preserve her long-nurtured presidential ambitions.
However, the National Rally is facing a separate investigation, launched in July 2024, into allegations of fraud and illicit campaign financing.
The probe centres on loans from private individuals used to bankroll campaigns in 2022 and 2024, leading to a police raid at party headquarters last summer.
Yet despite these mounting troubles, Le Pen remains determined.
Her legal team insists she will fight to clear her name, banking on the appeal to overturn or at least soften the first-instance verdict.
