Marine Le Pen’s conviction is a window on transparency problems in the EU parliament

The conviction of one of the most powerful figures of the European extreme right to divert the funds from the EU Parliament sent shock waves around the continent and beyond. But Marine Le Pen box is just an example of transparency problems that tormented the legislator.

From Budapest to Washington, Le Pen’s Political allies cried During the five -year ban provided by the French court of this week, the search for a political bureau which could block its chances of obtaining the presidency of France in 2027.

The long -standing leader of the national rally party and the former EU legislator is one of the 24 people sentenced in Monday’s decision in Paris for redirecting millions of euros assigned to EU political work to serve the party’s internal interests. The party employed employees who were declared as parliamentary assistants of the EU, but rather had other functions, including the Le Pen bodyguard.

Transparency defenders claim that the case highlights wider issues related to the lack of expenditure in the EU legislative assembly affecting members through the political spectrum.

Other corruption scandals

Revelations of an alleged Cash-for-influence Scheme Nicknamed Qatargate, involving legislators, assistants, lobbyists and their high-level relatives, emerged in 2022. Qatari and Morocco officials would have paid bribes to influence decision-making. The two countries deny participation.

No one has been convicted or is in pre -trial detention. The prospects for a trial are not clear.

Last month, several people were arrested in a probe related to Chinese society Huaweiwhich is suspected of bribe EU legislators. Huawei said he had taken the allegations seriously and had a “zero tolerance policy with regard to corruption”.

Last year, the help of the prominent far right EU legislator Maximilian Krah was arrested in a separate case. German prosecutors allegedly alleged that aid was a Chinese agent. Krah, who has since passed to the federal legislature of his native Germany, has denied all knowledge of suspicions against his former employee.

What parliamentary assistants of the EU do and what rules apply

The 720 legislators of the EU Parliament benefit from a pot of approximately $ 250 million a year to pay their assistants for political work such as administration, writing or studying and drafting legal proposals.

Critics have long warned that the fund is mature for financial and political violence. Legislators have often been surveyed by the EU anti-fraud office Olaf.

Some parliamentarians have no assistants. Most have about five or six. As the Pen was involved, some members had dozens.

His 29 -year -old protégé Jordan Bardella – which could replace it on the French presidential ballot in 2027 – has three assistants. Some do parliamentary work in the Belgian and European capital Brussels or in the French city Strasbourg, where the legislature meets. Others work in the country of origin of a member of the Parliament.

Only two rules seem to apply: family members cannot be hired and assistants should focus on EU companies and not work against the interest of the Legislative Assembly. But assembly has no clear system to enforce the rules.

What Le Pen allies say

Le Pen and his allies seek to caress her as a martyr of a political motivation. Even his opponents wondered if it was right for the Paris Court from preventing him from running to become the next French president. A appeal trial is scheduled for next year, which could maintain the ban, overthrow or strengthen it before the 2027 elections.

“This is not an isolated case of screening for deputies who abuse their allowances,” a activist from the EU office of the Defense Defense Bureau, Transparency International told the Associated Press. “The only exceptional thing about this affair is perhaps the scope of the program of embezzlement of funds and that in the end, there was justice and responsibility at the end of the process.”

Aiossa said the convictions rendered to members of the National Rally and the Associates – many of whom were also prohibited from presenting themselves to the elections – did not seem to be “ Lawfare ”, as the Le Pen allies claim.

“I think what we see is an independent judicial decision on a very extensive investigation, almost decades, on a fairly latent diversion,” he said.

How the European Parliament is politicized itself

The European Parliament is based on national magistrates, mainly in Belgium, and the EU Olaf agency to investigate irregularities. Olaf cannot continue, investigate only and issue recommendations for action. In 2023, Olaf published five recommendations linked to the EU Parliament.

Once the ball has passed to the Member States, the proceedings are rare.

The European Parliament issues recovery orders for the money it suspect has been diverted. He did it in 2016, when he asked Ukip and his partners to reimburse tens of thousands of euros which, according to him, had been Missi. A higher court of the EU then rejected this order.

While the Legislative Assembly has somewhat tightened the rules of transparency in the wake of the Qatar scandal, it voted several times against considerably intensified surveillance. Launching A new EU ethics corps The imposing common standards stalled in the middle of the opposition of the largest parliamentary group, the European center-right party.

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The writer Associated Press Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.