Cultural differences
The National Rally is not the first French party to face accusations of misusing MEP funds for domestic operations.
Earlier this year, the centrist Democratic Movement (MoDem), part of the coalition supporting French President Emmanuel Macron, was fined €300,000 over similar allegations. The European Parliament had initially estimated €1.4 million in losses from the MoDem’s scheme, but later reduced the figure to €293,000, according to Agence France-Presse.
The most high-profile figure in the MoDem case was François Bayrou, Macron’s first justice minister and one of the first political heavyweights to have thrown his support behind the French president. Bayrou was acquitted due to reasonable doubt, but several other party officials, including five former MEPs, were fined or given suspended prison sentences.
The National Rally argues that these cases stem from cultural differences in Paris and Brussels as to what constitutes being an employee of a political party.
“In French political parties, being on payroll is the exception and being a volunteer is the norm, but that’s not the case in other European political cultures,” a top National Rally official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss the trial without impacting its outcome, said. “The European Anti-Fraud Office’s approach to politics is nonsensical. If an aide is a party member, it raises a red flag to them,” the official said.
Jordan Bardella, the National Rally’s current president, is notably not on trial. He had not yet been elected to the European Parliament or held key party positions during the period in question.