End -in -court titles with the European Parliament: The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled today, Wednesday, July 16, that the historic leader of the French far -right had received illegally € 303,200.99 from European funds and decided that money should be refunded.
The decision relates to personal expenses charged unjustified in the budget of MEPs. After Lepen’s death, his daughters continued in the court battle, without success.
The case began in 2024, when Jean -Marie Lepen appealed to the General Court calling for the annulment of the decision of the Secretary General of the European Parliament. Parliament argued that Lepen had recorded unjustified personal expenses in the budget 400 budget, which is specially designed for parliamentary spending of MEPs. This budget, also known as a flat -rate general allowance “, is intended to cover expenses such as office rental, telecommunications, IT equipment and information activities, not for personal needs. These irregularities referred to a report by the European Fraud of Fraud (OLAF) for the period 2009-2018.
In his appeal, Lepen claimed that the principles of law security and justified confidence were violated, as well as his right to a fair trial.
Following the death of Jean-Marie Lepen on January 7, 2025, his daughters, Marion Le Pen, Yann Maréchal and Marie-Caroline Olivier, undertook, as his heirs, to continue the pending process.
The verdict of the European Court of Justice
The General Court completely rejected the appeal of Lepen and his heirs. In its ruling, the Court ruled that the procedure followed by the parliament for the adoption of the recovery decision and the debit note was not contrary to the principles of law security and the protection of justified confidence.
The court emphasized that Jean Marie Lepen had been informed in time, as of January 23, 2024, by the Secretary General of the European Parliament on complaints and had been given a two -month deadline to submit his observations. In addition, the recovery decision contained a detailed description of the actual and legal framework of the irregularities, while the Secretary General called on Lepen to submit his observations.
As for the claim for a violation of the right to a fair trial, the Court ruled that there was no violation. He recalled that this right concerns only judicial proceedings before a “court”. He added that the European Office for Fighting Fraud, during her investigation, informed Mr Le Pen about all the alleged events and invited him to submit his observations, which he did. In addition, and during the administrative process of Parliament, Le Pen was re -invited to submit his observations to which his daughters responded as representatives.
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