The European Parliament (EP) was informed of the decision of the Paris court, which issued a verdict for fraud against Marine Le Pen. This was stated by a spokesperson for the institution during a press conference in response to a journalistic question, BTA reports.
The speaker stressed that the EP is a party to the case, as in other similar cases. He explained that the main objective of the Parliament is the protection of public funds and the EU budget, respecting the established rules. Despite the importance of the case, the institution will not make any further comments and will not enter into an assessment of the verdict on its merits.
At the beginning of the weekly session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, a proposal to include the discussion of the verdict as a separate item on the agenda was rejected. This evening, MEPs are expected to raise the issue as part of the debates on corruption in the EP, which are related to suspicions of abuse, including with the Chinese company "Huawei".
As reported by BTA, the leader of the French far-right Marine Le Pen was sentenced to imprisonment, a five-year ban on holding public office and a fine of 100,000 euros. She was found guilty of embezzling funds from the EU budget and intends to appeal the verdict.