Overview
- On July 7 a Paris court of appeal convicted Marine Le Pen for misuse of EU parliamentary assistants, handed her a prison term with an electronic‑bracelet component and months of inéligibilité, and she immediately declared her 2027 presidential candidacy while lodging a pourvoi en cassation.
- Le Pen’s pourvoi in practice suspends the execution of the one‑year house‑arrest sentence tied to a bracelet, which lets her campaign for now, and the Cour de cassation has committed to rule by early April 2027, creating a major pre‑election legal deadline.
- On July 15 the parquet général of the Paris court of appeal announced it would not seek cassation of the July 7 judgment, a decision that narrows one prosecutorial route but does not bar private appeals or the cassation review itself.
- The centrist party Renaissance sued the Rassemblement National for trademark contrefaçon and parasitism over RN use of the word 'Renaissance' and won an emergency référé hearing set for July 27 to consider ordering changes to RN campaign material.
- Polls taken after Le Pen’s announcement show her leading the first round, and coverage of controversial measures by newly elected RN mayors—festival cancellations, cuts to union premises and other local moves—is being used to signal what RN national rule might mean in practice.