Can Le Pen recover or is this the end of her career?

Marine Le Pen, de facto leader of French far-right party Rassemblement National RN), is banned from contesting any public election for five years after being found guilty of embezzlement.

- SEAN O'GRADY

She says she will appeal but this will take time and possibly puts her planned bid for the French presidency in 2027 out of reach.

Her unexpected conviction has been met with a fierce backlash from allies across the world, notably including President Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni, prime minister of Italy. Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary declared on social media “Je Suis Marine!”.

France, already unstable after the snap parliamentary elections last summer, now has the prospect of public protests in support of Le Pen.

What did Marine Le Pen do wrong?

A glib answer would be that she got caught. She was arraigned on charges of embezzling funds from the European parliament, of which she was a long-term member, for more than a decade. She did not personally benefit from any such activity, but it was found that she had diverted monies intended to be used for her work as an MEP into her cash-strapped political party. This was against the rules and a criminal act, but experts on the ways of the European parliament attest it is a not uncommon practice across the political spectrum.

Her supporters say she is the victim of a conspiracy by the French state to prevent her bid for power in 2027. Her critics argue that, whatever other people were up to, she is not above the law.

Is she going to prison?