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European Union prosecutors have launched a probe into a possible misappropriation of EU funds, after a complaint alleged France’s far-right National Rally had used European grants to benefit its leader Jordan Bardella, a source close to the case told AFP Thursday. An anti-corruption association accused the RN of using European funds to train its members, including Bardella, to address the media during the 2022 French presidential election campaign.

The complaint, filed in Paris last December by anti-graft association AC!! Anti-Corruption, was forwarded by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) for assessment.”Following a preliminary review, an investigation has been opened on suspicion of fraud,” said the source. Bardella’s mentor, Marine Le Pen, is seeking to overturn a court ruling that convicted her of embezzlement in 2025 and could derail her presidential bid next year.

If an appeals court in July bars the 57-year-old from public office over an alleged fake jobs scam in the European Parliament, Bardella, 30, is expected to run in her place. Contacted by AFP, a spokesman for the Luxembourg-based EPPO said it did not “comment on ongoing investigations”.- ‘Aggressive statements’ -Bardella and his party rejected the accusations.”We have absolutely nothing to reproach ourselves for,” he said on X.”The group behind the complaint is a self-proclaimed far-left organisation whose aggressive statements leave little doubt as to their intentions.”The RN chief said he filed a complaint over a “false accusation” several weeks ago.”We stand ready to provide the European Public Prosecutor’s Office with any information it deems necessary,” he added.

The RN said in a separate statement that the media training sessions were conducted in accordance with European Parliament rules.”They were suspended precisely because of the start of the 2022 presidential campaign,” the party added. Le Pen made it to the second round of the presidential election in 2022 but was defeated by Emmanuel Macron, who won five more years as president. Bardella was then acting leader of the far-right party.

The complaint seen by AFP alleged that funds held by members of the National Rally in their capacity as MEPs were used “for purposes other than those for which they were allocated”. A media training coach had been hired to “prepare National Rally MEPs for media appearances”, the anti-corruption group said in its complaint to the PNF, the French judicial authority specialising in tax fraud and serious economic and financial crime.

The coach was “paid by the European Parliament from the budget allocated to MEPs”, the complaint added. The association cited an article in the newspaper Le Canard Enchaine which “reveals that from September 2021” the coach was tasked with assisting Bardella “not with regard to his knowledge of European current affairs but with a view to preparing for the French presidential election in 2022”.

Jerome Karsenti, a lawyer for the association, said he hoped the investigation would be “swift”.”European money is also French taxpayers’ money,” he told AFP. “These recurring misappropriations of public funds demonstrate a deeply entrenched system of corruption within the RN.”

Thu, 07 May 2026 18:17:55 GMT