Political earthquake in France. The government is on the verge of collapse and Le Pen is looking for a way back

France is preparing for further upheaval on the political stage. If President Emmanuel Macron calls early parliamentary elections, the leader of the right-wing National Assembly, Marine Le Pen, will attempt to have the ban on her candidacy lifted.

She will immediately appeal to the country's highest constitutional authority in order to be able to participate in the elections. According to polls, her party has a good chance of entering government, writes the Brussels daily Politico.

Since March of this year, when she was found guilty by a court of embezzling public funds from the European Parliament, Le Pen has been barred from running for public office for five years. She herself rejects the allegations, claims to be innocent, and has appealed the verdict.

Starting Monday, the court is to rule on her original appeal, in which Le Pen sought to have the ban lifted so that she could run in the presidential elections scheduled for 2027. The Paris Court of Appeal had previously stated that the appeal should be decided by summer 2026.

On the same day, Monday, September 8, François Bayrou's minority government faces a vote of no confidence and is likely to fall, not only because of Le Pen and her party's opposition to the €43.8 billion austerity package. “If the question is: Do we have confidence in this government? Then the answer is no,” she said after a meeting with Prime Minister François Bayrou.

(politico, echo24, luc)