Court confirms: Marine Le Pen loses seat as councillor in Pas-de-Calais department
In France, Marine Le Pen will indeed lose her seat as a councillor in Pas-de-Calais, the court in Lille confirmed. The radical right-wing politician was convicted 3 months ago for embezzling European money and is banned from running for election for 5 years. Le Pen is appealing the verdict.

Iza Vanheusden
Published on
2 hours ago
Marine Le Pen is to be removed from her position as a councillor in the Pas-de-Calais department. This was confirmed by the administrative court of Lille. Le Pen had previously appealed against the loss of her council seat, but the judge has now ruled that her removal is justified.

Le Pen, the former leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, was recently convicted of embezzling European funds. The conviction means she is banned from running for office for five years. The Lille court ruled that the sentence means she will automatically be removed from her position as a councillor.

Le Pen's response
Le Pen's lawyer, Thomas Laval, deplored the verdict: "The verdict deprives her of the opportunity to represent voters, while she is still considered innocent pending her appeal."

He also immediately announced that Le Pen will appeal the verdict of the court in Lille. This appeal will temporarily suspend her removal from office. The precise consequences for her position are still unclear at this time.

The politician was convicted in March by the Paris court for embezzling some 4.4 million euros in European money . The court sentenced her to 4 years in prison, of which 2 years effective. She is also banned from standing for election for 5 years. Le Pen announced in April that she will appeal against that decision.