Here are various political reactions to Marine Le Pen's conviction on Monday, including a five-year immediate ineligibility sentence in the European parliamentary assistants' case.
US President Donald Trump's administration said it was "concerning" to exclude candidates from politics, in response to a French court's ruling against French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
"We have got to do more as the West than just talk about democratic values. We must live them," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters when asked about Le Pen.
The Kremlin on Monday slammed a French court's ruling to bar far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running for office for five years as a demonstration of Europe's politically motivated "violation" of democratic norms.
Le Pen has long faced accusations of being too close to the Kremlin, of advancing Russian narratives, and of relying on Moscow for political and financial support.
A French court barred her from running for office for five years after she was convicted over a fake jobs scheme, throwing into doubt her bid to stand for president in 2027.
When asked about the court's decision on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "More and more European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms."
Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders voiced shock on Monday at a court ruling against France's Marine Le Pen, banning her from running for office with immediate effect and pledging his "100 percent" support.
I am shocked by the incredible tough verdict against @MLP_officiel. I support and believe in her for the full 100% and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France.
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) March 31, 2025
Elon Musk, the billionaire top adviser to US President Donald Trump, called a French court ruling barring far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running for election in 2027 "abuse" and said it would "backfire."
"This will backfire, like the legal attacks against President Trump," Musk wrote on X.
Right-Wing Parties
Jordan Bardella (RN): “Today, it's not just Marine Le Pen who's being unjustly condemned; it's French democracy that's being executed.” (on X)
Eric Ciotti (UDR): “Is France still a democracy? Our nation's democratic destiny has been confiscated by an outrageous judicial cabal (...) this is not a simple malfunction; it's a system for capturing power that systematically rules out any candidate too far to the right who is in a position to win.”
La France est-elle encore une démocratie ?
— Eric Ciotti (@eciotti)La France est-elle encore une démocratie ?
— Eric Ciotti (@eciotti) March 31, 2025
Eric Zemmour (Reconquête): “It's not up to judges to decide who the people should vote for. Whatever our disagreements, Marine Le Pen is legitimate to stand for election.”
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (Debout la France): “Fillon in 2017, Romania a few weeks ago, and now Marine Le Pen's ineligibility for 2027: the double standards of the government of judges hinder popular sovereignty and undermine our democracies.”
Left-Wing Parties
Marine Tondelier (Les Ecologistes): Marine Le Pen “must pay her penalty” because “she is a 'justiciable like any other. “When you give lessons in exemplarity to everyone, you have to start by applying it to yourself” (in Hénin-Beaumont).
Jérôme Guedj (PS): “A court decision must be respected. Afterwards, everyone can debate the nature of the sentence (...) but it's not in the heat of the moment and on a particular case that we question the relevance of the law (...). Justice must be the same for both the elected and the unelected, for the powerful and the weak” (at the National Assembly).
Fabien Roussel (PCF): “Justice is justice: as La Fontaine wrote, ‘depending on whether you are powerful or miserable,’ it must be the same for everyone. Especially since Mme Le Pen is a politician who demands greater firmness from the justice system” (on X).
Manuel Bompard (LFI): “We take note of this court decision, even if we refuse on principle to accept that an appeal is impossible for any individual (...) We are fighting (the RN) in the ballot box as well as in the street,” and “we will also beat them tomorrow in the ballot box, whoever their candidate may be” (press release).
Olivier Besancenot (NPA): “Candidates come and go; the ideological sludge remains. It's neo-fascism, racism, and its ideas that must be rendered ineligible! The fight goes on!
Benjamin Lucas (Générations): “Justice has spoken. But the political fight against the extreme right is in no way altered or made less necessary by the conviction of the delinquent Le Pen.”
Avec AFP
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