Le Pen, the RN and two dozen party figures were accused of diverting more than 4 million Euros ($4.33 million) of European Parliament funds to pay France-based staff. They had argued the money was used legitimately and that the allegations had defined too narrowly what a parliamentary assistant does.

F or the better part of a decade Marine Le Pen has worked methodically to transform an extremist, xenophobic fringe movement into a more respectable nationalist party ready to govern. The French hard-right leader had a reasonable chance of winning the highest office in 2027,