MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The far-right front-runner in France's 2027 presidential election was effectively barred from running in the contest today. That's after a criminal court in Paris found Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling European Union funds for her party and barred her from running for political office for five years. She was also sentenced to prison and was fined a hundred thousand euros - or around $108,000. It was also a blow to her far-right party, the National Rally. It had styled itself as an honest alternative to corrupt politicians of old. Le Pen's attorney says she plans to appeal. For more on all this, Sylvain Bourmeau joins us now from Paris. He's a professor at the Sorbonne. He's also the editor of AOC Media. That's an analysis and opinion website. Thank you so much for joining us.
SYLVAIN BOURMEAU: Hello. You're welcome.
MARTIN: So, what exactly were the accusations against Le Pen and other National Rally members? And if you can just tell us a little bit about what the evidence was against them.
BOURMEAU: Yes, they were - actually, they were found guilty of embezzlement by a criminal court in Paris today. What they did is they used for several years - it lasted for quite a long while - European money, European public money from the European Parliament in order to fund a French political organization, their political party.
MARTIN: So how might the verdict affect voter support for the far right?
BOURMEAU: Well, it's a very strong blow, not just against Marine Le Pen, but there were 25 people involved. And also the political party itself has been found guilty. And so the Rassemblement National has to give 2 million, 1 million firm (ph). I mean, so it's a lot of people that were actually banned from running in all kinds of elections in France, either national or local elections, for the next five years for some of them, including Marine Le Pen, and others just three years.
MARTIN: So this isn't just about her. I think I hear you saying that this affects kind of the movement. Le Pen has spent more than a decade trying to make the far right more mainstream in French politics. Do you have a sense of whether this decision affects that effort?
BOURMEAU: Well, it will simply be impossible for her to run as a presidential candidate for the next election, which is normally scheduled in 2027. But apart from that, it will be difficult for other people in the same party. Actually, what happens is it's just the rule of law. I mean, what the judges have decided, it is not the fact that she would run or not. I mean, they just decided that she and other people in the party and the party itself were guilty of using fraudously (ph) that money. And the consequence is the fact that she will not be able to run, but this is not actually the decision itself. It's only a consequence of the fact that she was found guilty.
MARTIN: Before we let you go, very briefly, what does this mean for the 2027 presidential election? She says - her lawyer says she plans to appeal. Are there any other likely candidates who might have some traction?
BOURMEAU: Well, of course, the current president of the organization, Jordan Bardella, is maybe the natural candidate now. But I guess there will be other people as well. I mean, this situation will probably create quite a strange situation in the party. So we'll see what happens.
MARTIN: OK. That is the journalist Sylvain Bourmeau. Mr. Bourmeau, thank you so much for joining us.
BOURMEAU: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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