The case arose in 2015 after the Parliament noticed that 20 parliamentary assistants were listed as having political roles in the party’s organizational chart.
“The European Parliament never advised us, nor did they blame us for our assistants,” Le Pen told the presiding judge, Michèle Agi, noting that the legislature’s “rules and regulations are 150 pages long.” She suggested the institution was not doing enough to help MEPs navigate their human resources needs.
Parliament Director General Didier Klethi later took the stand and pushed back against that claim. “In practice, it is very easy to see whether a contract is linked to a parliamentary mandate or not,” Klethi said.
The stakes could not be higher for Le Pen: She is currently unable to run in next year’s presidential election to succeed Emmanuel Macron after a lower court found her guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds and imposed a five-year prohibition on her holding public office. She has previously indicated she would abandon her presidential ambitions if the appeals court confirms the ban.
Last week the far-right presidential candidate, who is on trial both as a former MEP and as a party leader, acknowledged some crimes may have been committed, but said if so, it had been unintentional and that she hadn’t been aware at the time that what she was doing was not allowed. She also said she had never hidden anything from the Parliament, which in turn had not advised her regarding any possible wrongdoing.
As Agi’s questions became more pointed on Tuesday, Le Pen accused former National Rally MEPs — who told investigators a system had been created to have the party, rather than lawmakers, hire their assistants — of harboring a personal vendetta against her.