What do Trump and other world leaders say about Le Pen office ban decision?
From ‘left-wing abuse of the legal system’ to ‘the rule of law’, reactions have been fierce
Clockwise from top-right: Viktor Orban, Donald Trump, Prisca Thevenot, and François Hollande are among those to weigh in on Marine Le Pen (centre)
Leaders across the world have been reacting to the news that Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Rassemblement National party in France, has been found “ineligible” to run for president in 2027.
Hugh Schofield, BBC Paris correspondent, said that the courtroom had been “very, very tense”, and explained the concept of “ineligibility” as “basically meaning she can’t run for office for five years, starting now”.
Ms Le Pen has also been found guilty of illegal party funding, and given a four-year prison sentence, of which two will be suspended. She will wear an electronic tag, rather than spending time in prison. She has also been fined €100,000.
Read also: Marine Le Pen banned from running in 2027 presidential election
Ms Le Pen's lawyer, Me Rodolphe Bosselut, has confirmed that Ms Le Pen would be appealing the decision.
Yet, the ban on her running for president begins now.
If the decision stands, Ms Le Pen will be barred from running for President in 2027, which she had hoped to do, in what would have been her fourth attempt to win the presidency. She came second in the presidential election against President Emmanuel Macron, with 40% of the vote compared to Mr Macron’s 58%, in 2022.
Many world leaders have already commented on the decision.
Right-wing support
Unsurprisingly, many right-leaning figures have come out in support of Ms Le Pen, and condemned the ruling. Some have suggested the case is “left-wing abuse” of the legal system.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban simply wrote on X: “Je suis Marine” ("I am Marine"), in a nod to previous posts of solidarity and support during other events, such as “Je suis Charlie”, which trended online after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting, to show support for the attacked journalists and threat to free speech.
- US President Donald Trump also said that the ruling was a “very important matter”, and wrongly claimed that Ms Le Pen had been “the leading candidate” in the last election, when referring to her five-year ban. "That sounds like this country, that sounds very much like this country,” he said.
- Elon Musk, tech billionaire and White House adviser, has said the decision is an “abuse” of the legal system. He said: "When the radical left can't win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents. This is their standard playbook throughout the world.”
Geert Wilders, leader of the Netherlands' largest political party, the far-right Freedom party (PVV) and widely considered to be a right-wing “populist”, wrote on X that he was confident that Ms Le Pen would win her appeal, run for office in 2027, and become the next president of France.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, also considered to be far-right and “hardline”, wrote online: “We are not intimidated... full speed ahead, my friend!”. He also posted a photo of himself and Ms Le Pen, saying “Soutiens” in French (“support”).
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, himself right-wing and also barred from public office until 2030, stated: “This ruling is clearly left-wing judicial activism. Wherever the right-wing is present, the left and the system will work to get their opponents out of the game.”
Eric Ciotti, former president of centre-right Republicans, said the “democratic destiny of our nation [has been] confiscated by an outrageous judicial cabal”. The favoured candidate in the presidential election prevented from running. This is not a simple dysfunction. It is a system to capture power that systematically throws aside any candidate that is too far to the right and who has a chance of winning."
Eric Zemmour, President of France's Far-Right Reconquête party, said: “It is not for judges to decide who the people must vote for. Whatever our disagreements, it is legitimate for Marine Le Pen to run for the vote.”
Left-wing comments
More left-wing and centrist politicians have also reacted to the news, mainly calling for Ms Le Pen to respect the court’s decisions.
Former French President François Hollande: “The only reaction I can have as a former French president is to respect the independence of the judicial system ... Ms Le Pen, like all the other convicted people, can go to the appeals court for even the ineligibility ruling.”
Prisca Thevenot, Centrist MP and former minister: "Last week ... we heard lots of politicians, including Marine Le Pen with the Rassemblement National, calling for a firm justice system - a justice system that is respected ... the question I now ask the Rassemblement National: at what level in the polls do you start thinking you are above the law?"
Fabien Roussel, National Secretary Of French Communist Party: "Ms. Le Pen is a politician who demands firmness on the part of the judiciary! Respect the judicial system then."
La France Insoumise, far-left, appeared to reject the idea that France’s left-wing needs to turn to the courts to defeat the far-right. Its statement said: “La France Insoumise has never expected to use the courts as a way to get rid of the Rassemblement National. We fight them at the ballot box and in the streets, with the mobilisation of the French people, as we did during the 2024 legislative elections. We will fight again tomorrow in the polls, whoever is their candidate."
François Ruffin, Independent left-wing MP and militant filmmaker: “Let's set the record straight: Marine Le Pen and her 20 accomplices are not victims, they are guilty, and they are guilty of having provided fictitious employment. I would like to add that Marine Le Pen was the most vindictive on this issue ... she called for lifelong immunity for all elected representatives convicted while in office.”
Laurent Wauquiez, of the centre-right Les Républicains, said it was “not healthy” for an elected official to be barred from election. He said: “Political debates must be settled at the ballot box and it is the French people who must decide.
Daniel Freund, German Green MEP and the chair of the European parliament’s anti-corruption working group, said the court had “shown that the rule of law applies to everyone, regardless of polling numbers”.
Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s former finance minister and left-wing leader of the Europe Movement, took a more extreme stance, and said a “panicking illiberal establishment across the west” was “diving headlong into a totalitarian pit”. “Only France’s neo fascists will benefit from this,” he said.
“Political decision”
Ms Le Pen, alongside 24 other RN members, was found guilty of using over €6.8million of EU-allocated funds to pay European parliamentary assistants for its MEPs when in fact they were working for the Front National (FN), which became the RN in 2018.
Her fellow accused include RN vice-president Louis Aliot, mayor of Perpignan, Nicolas Bay, regional councillor for Normandy, Julien Odoul, regional councillor for Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Wallerand de Saint-Just, regional councillor for Ile-de-France.
Mr Aliot and Mr Bay were also banned from running for public offices.
Ms Le Pen herself has already reacted angrily to the decisions. She has called it “political” and a “violation of the state of law”.
“There are millions of French people who believe in me,” she said. “For 30 years I have been fighting against injustice. It is what I shall continue to do right to the end.”
Read also: Comment: Court ban on Marine Le Pen from holding office would anger French voters
Ms Le Pen’s lawyer said: “The court ruled the 'immediate effect' of the ban was justifiable on the basis that Ms Le Pen had sought to defend herself in court citing the statute of limitations. It claimed that this amounts to a risk of her reoffending, which is absurd and equates to criminalising a legal defense, which I find particularly scandalous.
“I find this element particularly troubling,” he said.
The ban on Ms Le Pen from running for office means that RN President Jordan Bardella - who is not implicated in the affair - is likely to replace her as the RN’s 2027 presidential candidate.
