French politician Marine Le Pen has hit back at allegations of illegal funding by Euro members of the far-right party National Rally (RN).
She told a Paris court on Monday that parliamentary aides who are paid by the Brussels parliament are naturally involved in politics, which is why they were attracted to the job in the first place.
It is therefore a false distinction to claim that they should only work for Congress, she argued.
“Aides work for parliamentarians and develop their ideas,” Le Pen said.
“Look at the number of members of Congress who started out as parliamentary aides and it’s because they’re interested in politics.
“I have no sense that I committed the slightest bit of wrongdoing or misdemeanor.”
Le Pen, along with 24 other named individuals and the party itself as a legal entity, is accused of siphoning funds from the European Parliament to pay the salaries of party officials.
According to the indictment, for several years she oversaw a system in which RN employees in Paris were “recruited” as EU parliamentary aides in Brussels.
The court alleges that these RN executives, including Le Pen’s bodyguard and a graphic designer in her communications department, rarely set foot in the EU parliament and had no role in it.
On Monday, the court heard the case of Catherine Grisset, Le Pen’s longtime personal assistant.
Confirmed as a parliamentary aide in Brussels, she was recorded as attending parliament for just 12 hours between August 2014 and October 2015.
But Le Pen, answering questions for the first time since the trial began two weeks ago, said it was naive to think that parliamentary aides were not always involved in political activities.
And the failure to understand this is a sign of how disconnected the European Parliament is from the realities of political life, she said.
“The European Parliament is a bit like the Blob,” she said, referring to the 1958 film about a giant amoeba that threatens to destroy the world. “It engulfs the legislators.
“In Congress you can sleep, you can eat, you can get your hair done. Everything is designed to keep you alive in the box. Sometimes you have to say, ‘Cuckoo!’ It won’t. We should be doing politics here! ”
Le Pen, a lawyer by trade, said she plans to attend the trial, which runs until late November, as much as possible, despite France’s current tense political situation.
Her party now has a rare opportunity to influence the situation, as it poses a permanent threat to the new government of Michel Barnier.
The prime minister enjoys the support of just over a third of parliamentarians, and Le Pen can bring her down at any time by supporting a censure motion brought forward by the left.
“We know that we have the power to push buttons. You know it. They know it. Everyone knows it,” she said in an interview with Le Point magazine. He spoke at The government sell-by date is written on the box.
But Le Pen’s political ambitions risk being seriously hampered by the outcome of the party funding trial.
If she is found guilty, her charges could include not only prison terms and large fines, but also banishment from public office for five years.
This would theoretically preclude her fourth, and potentially most promising, bid for the presidency in 2027.
Arguably, an appeal against such a ruling could drag on until 2027 or beyond, and if she wins the presidency, she would be immune from judicial pursuits until she leaves office.
Some commentators say a guilty verdict would do little to hurt her chances in any case because it would allow her to continue to pose as a victim of the system.
But some say campaigning in the shadow of her conviction will alienate many moderate voters who would choose her for the first time.
