Ties, watches, and wine: Luxembourg forces the Le Pens to reimburse the European Parliament for their father's expenses.

BrusselsThe heirs of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the French far-right National Front party and former MEP, will have to repay the money their father misused from the funds allocated to European Parliament representatives as personal expenses. The General Court of the European Union (GCEU) ruled that has ruled in favor of the European Parliament and confirms that he used that money to buy all kinds of personal items, such as virtual reality glasses, watches, ties, kitchen scales, and up to 129 bottles of wine.

However, the Luxembourg court dismissed the appeal filed by the heirs of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died on January 7, against the European Parliament's decision, and, among others, his daughter and far-right leader Marine Le Pen (of National Regrouping) will have to repay around 30. "The General Court dismisses the appeal brought by Mr. Le Pen and his heirs," the verdict concludes.

The judgment notes that the European Parliament's evidence is sufficiently solid and points out that it includes a "detailed account" of "the irregularities imputed" to Jean-Marie Le Pen. It therefore rejects the arguments of the heirs of the founder of the National Front, who claimed that the European Parliament "had not presented any evidence" proving that their father used the funds held by MEPs to cover expenses directly related to his representative work.

However, Wednesday's ruling by the CJEU, the European Court of First Instance, can still be appealed to the highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It remains to be seen whether Marine Le Pen and her sisters will be willing to exhaust all legal avenues to try to save those 300,000 euros.

Corruption cases are hounding Le Pen.

The Luxembourg ruling comes just days after French police raided the headquarters of the National Regrouping Party (RRN) as part of an investigation into suspected illegal financing. Furthermore, this is not the first time Marine Le Pen has faced justice for embezzling funds from the European Parliament. The French courts will prosecute her. disqualified last March for five years for the fraudulent use of European Parliament advisors, for a total value of 4.2 million euros.

This disqualification could mean that the far-right leader cannot run in the 2027 presidential elections, although an appeal process is still open, which should be resolved in 2026. In addition, Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which were final.

For the moment, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has rejected Le Pen's request to temporarily suspend the disqualification. However, despite the corruption cases plaguing Régroupé Nationale, its leaders attribute this to the will of the justice system—whether French, the European Union, or the Council of Europe—to put an end to her party.