PARIS — France’s far-right National Rally was hoping it could put its legal woes behind it next week — with the conclusion of a long-running embezzlement case against its leader Marine Le Pen — and finally concentrate all its energy on the 2027 election.
But police raids on Tuesday mean the party’s judicial headaches will likely drag on, even if National Rally President Jordan Bardella emerges as its presidential candidate in the coming week.
In fact, Bardella now faces fraud allegations similar to those threatening to derail Le Pen’s presidential ambitions.
Tuesday’s raids were connected to a European Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation into whether the now-defunct Identity and Democracy group misused taxpayer funds when Bardella was its vice-president. POLITICO reported last year that the group breached spending rules by at least €4.3 million, according to a confidential audit.
In electoral terms, the impact of this could be limited. The National Rally is still flying high in the polls, and the French are inured to fraud scandals surrounding presidents or presidential candidates, from Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy to former Prime Minister François Bayrou. Recent surveys suggest Bardella would comfortably reach the presidential runoff and could either win or narrowly lose the race.
According to pollster Mathieu Gallard of Ipsos, previous scandals suggest the investigations are unlikely to dent the National Rally’s core support.
“It’s not that voters don’t think the National Rally is guilty, it is more that they think all parties are,” he said. “They vote for the National Rally because of its positions on immigration, identity and security.”
Still, such probes are likely to become a long-term problem for the party, raising serious questions about its working methods and professionalism during an era when party officials were working to detoxify the far right’s image and expand its voter base.
On Wednesday, Bardella led the counteroffensive against European prosecutors, accusing them of acting on political motives.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of, and we will show it,” he wrote online.
Party officials quickly closed ranks around him.
“We are a party that is harassed by the European Parliament,” said National Rally lawmaker Sébastien Chenu. “Clearly there’s a political desire to hurt us.”
In a prime time interview Wednesday, Le Pen said she does not believe the probe is justified and called into question why the raids were being held a week before her verdict is due.
“To me, this isn’t a coincidence,” she said. “I don’t believe in coincidences anymore when it comes to this kind of thing”
Bardella’s growing legal exposure
In addition to the allegations surrounding Identity and Democracy, Bardella faces scrutiny on several fronts.
The Patriots group that he leads in the European Parliament was accused of misusing €276,967 in EU funds during the second half of 2024, according to a confidential report seen by POLITICO.
In May, European prosecutors launched an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of EU funds linked to media training sessions for Bardella ahead of the 2022 presidential election, which Le Pen lost to French President Emmanuel Macron.
And according to the French weekly Le Canard Enchaîné, French authorities are expected to open an inquiry in the coming days into alleged fake documents submitted by Bardella as proof of work at the European Parliament in 2015.
Yet Bardella’s opponents have been cautious in exploiting these inquiries against the National Rally, as many of them face legal scrutiny themselves.
Current centrist presidential candidate and former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is being investigated over allegations of embezzlement. Another presidential contender, the far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was also probed over alleged misuse of European parliamentary funds, but the case was recently dropped.
Look the other way
Inside the National Rally, these legal woes have generated a collective shrug.
Le Pen’s conviction and appeal “don’t have much of a negative impact” on voters, said a Bardella ally.
“The allegations are something all European parties could face, where does European politics end and national politics start?” they asked, referencing allegations that Le Pen used EU funds to pay for national party business.
“In addition, the cases are very complicated,” said the official who, like others quoted here, was granted anonymity to candidly discuss ongoing legal cases and party strategy.
The National Rally has been sticking to its long-term plan of attacking prosecutors and accusing them of being politically motivated, rather than discussing the substance of the fraud allegations.
“Marine Le Pen has always told us the judicial battle is part of the political battle,” said a senior party official.
But Bardella has carefully cultivated a squeaky-clean image free of the baggage that has long clung to the French far right.
And that polished persona could be undermined if he’s ensnared in a legal saga involving financial wrongdoing.
“If the investigations last and become a theme of the [presidential] election, it could slow down the expansion of the National Rally’s electorate,” said pollster Gallard.
“Traditional conservative voters, who are attracted to the National Rally … are attached to values of probity and respectability. They could be put off,” he added.
For months, the National Rally has struggled to move the political conversation beyond Le Pen’s conviction and appeal. The party hoped next week’s ruling would finally allow it to campaign on issues like immigration, security and the cost of living.
Instead, Bardella may find himself answering many of the same questions on fraud and public money that have dogged his mentor for years.
