Marine Le Pen is ordered to wear an electronic tag as judge upholds embezzlement conviction

By PETER ALLEN and ELIANA SILVER, SENIOR FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 13:16, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 13:29, 7 July 2026 A French appeals court on Tuesday upheld Marine Le Pen's conviction for misusing EU funds. The court ruled Le Pen serve a three-year jail term. Although the court said two years were suspended, it ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag for one year. The embattled 57-year-old National Rally party veteran had been a strong favourite to replace Emmanuel Macron as head of state. But last year she was found guilty of embezzling the equivalent of more than £1million from the European Parliament. Today, Michéle Agi, the president of a three-judge bench, said the verdict ‘was upheld’. She also handed down a prison sentence of three years, with two suspended, and a fine worth the equivalent of £85,000. Thirty of these months will be suspended, meaning a year and three months is effective. This covers next May’s presidential election, when Macron will be forced to stand down having served the maximum two terms allowed. While defence lawyers argued that part of the period of ineligibility had already been served, Le Pen has said she would not campaign with an electronic tag on her ankle.  Le Pen will be able to serve the remaining year with an electronic tag but – crucially – she was also suspended from seeking public office for 45 months Le Pen is now expected to hand over her National Rally presidential candidature to Jordan Bardella, the current 30-year-old president of the party  Le Pen has argued time with a tag would impede her from holding campaign rallies as she would have to seek permission every time. This means that Le Pen is now expected to hand over her National Rally presidential candidature to Jordan Bardella, the current 30-year-old president of the party. On Tuesday – the day of the Appeal Court ruling at the Palais de Justice in Paris –  Bardella said of Le Pen: ‘My support is absolute, and my loyalty will never waver based on circumstances. ‘Nothing can justify Marine Le Pen being excluded from the French people's choice or prevented from standing before them.’ Bardella has repeatedly said he is preparing to become Le Pen's prime minister rather than her replacement. Yet the possibility that Le Pen may ultimately decide not to run could propel him into the race. Polls have consistently shown both figures as strong contenders to reach a presidential runoff.  Some recent surveys have even suggested Bardella would outperform Le Pen in the first round. Le Pen was found guilty of ‘running a system’ aimed at siphoning European Union funds away from Strasbourg and Brussels into the coffers of her far-Right party in Paris. It was called the National Front (FN for Front National) at the beginning of the offences, in 2010, before becoming the National Rally. Le Pen hoped to see much of her conviction nullified, saying she was guilty of nothing more than ‘a mistake’ over some 10 years. But prosecutors said Le Pen and her late father, former FN chief and founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, had both acted in an extremely devious manner. Attorney general Stephane Madoz-Blanchet told the court: ‘Marine Le Pen was the instigator, following in her father's footsteps, of a system that enabled the party to embezzle 1.4 million euros (£1.2million)’ The first trial in March last year found Le Pen guilty along with 24 others, and 12 appealed today, but failed. Le Pen originally accused the judges and prosecutor of acting ‘politically’ in an attempt to end her presidential ambitions. Debate around the trial became so heated, that the main trial judge received death threats, and had to receive police protection. Prosecutor Thierry Ramonatxo rubbished claims that the judiciary wanted to ‘block a party leader's ascent to the highest executive office’. Ramonatxo said: ‘To suggest that the judiciary could oppose the will of the sovereign people is inaccurate. A judge is the guardian of the law and merely applies it.’ Le Pen is expected to speak to the French nation in a TV address on Tuesday evening.