France

This week, after a nine-week trial, Marie Le Pen and 24 others from her campaign were convicted of misusing $3 million dollars of European Parliament funds to pay for party staff between 2004 and 2016. All have denied the charges. It was established that these people were working for the party but had no specific task. Until this week Le Pen, the leader of the far-right party, The National Front, was the likely winner in France’s next presidential election set for 2027. She was banned from holding public office for the next five years.