PARIS (AP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she will run for president next year despite her embezzlement conviction, saying she’ll campaign as a “duo” with Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old president of her National Rally party.
A Paris appeals court ruled Tuesday that Le Pen, 57, oversaw years of misuse by her National Rally party of European Parliament funds by paying staff with money intended for European Union parliamentary assistants. The court ruled the party embezzled 2.8 million euros ($3.2 million) over more than 11 years.
But it scaled back the penalties handed down by the lower court, clearing the way for Le Pen to run for president.
She also said that, if elected, she would appoint Bardella as her prime minister.
Here’s a look at key milestones in the careers of Le Pen and Bardella, and the transformation of the National Rally party into one of France’s major political forces:
1968:
Marine Le Pen is born on Aug. 5 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of Paris, the youngest of three daughters of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who would later lead the far-right National Front party.
1972:
Jean-Marie Le Pen founds the far-right National Front, building it around anti-immigration and nationalist policies. In the next decades, he repeatedly denies the Holocaust and is convicted multiple times of antisemitism, discrimination and inciting racial violence.
1995:
Bardella is born on Sept. 13 in Drancy, northeast of Paris in mainland France’s poorest region. He grew up in public housing, the son of Italian and Algerian heritage.
2002:
Jean-Marie Le Pen shocks France by reaching the presidential runoff, losing to Jacques Chirac in a landslide. The result marks the far right’s emergence as a key political force.
2011:
Marine Le Pen succeeds her father as president of the National Front, launching a long-term effort to broaden the party’s appeal and distance it from its extremist image. She will expel her father from the party four years later after renewed controversial remarks.
2012:
Marine Le Pen makes her first bid for the presidency, finishing third in the first round with nearly 18% of the vote. Bardella, then 17, joins the National Front.
2017:
Marine Le Pen reaches the presidential runoff for the first time but loses to centrist contender Emmanuel Macron, who gets 66.1% of the votes, compared to her 33.9%. Bardella is one of the party’s spokespersons, becoming a familiar face on television.
2018:
The National Front changes its name to National Rally, part of Le Pen’s effort to make the party more acceptable to mainstream voters.
2019:
Bardella, now 23, leads the National Rally’s list in European Parliament elections. The party finishes first in France and he is elected MEP. He also becomes one of the party’s vice presidents.
2022:
Le Pen reaches the presidential runoff for a second consecutive time, winning more than 41% of the vote against Macron — the strongest showing ever for France’s far right in that election. Bardella becomes president of the National Rally.
2024:
The National Rally party emerges as the largest single force in Parliament’s powerful National Assembly, but falls short of an outright majority.
2025:
On March 30, a Paris court convicts Le Pen and other National Rally officials of misusing European Parliament funds, sentences her to prison and bars her from seeking public office for five years with immediate effect. She appeals.
2026:
Le Pen announces she’ll run for president after a July 7 ruling by the Paris appeals court that found her guilty of embezzlement but left her eligible. She says she will appeal the ruling to France’s highest court, a process that suspends the sentence that she be electronically monitored for a year.
2027:
The presidential election is scheduled on April 18 and May 2 to choose who will succeed Macron, who can’t seek a third consecutive term. France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, said it should be able to rule before that.
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