Marine Le Pen attacks the EU’s ‘Blob’ during her embezzlement trial

PARIS — Marine Le Pen has her own nickname for the Brussels bubble.

The far-right French leader likes to call the close-knit circle of lawmakers, lobbyists and civil servants working in the European Union capital “the Blob” 

The reference is to the 1958 science fiction film in which a ravenous, gelatinous mass expands as it consumes everything in its path. It was an image Le Pen deployed this week, as she tried to turn a legal ordeal into a political opportunity. 

The long-standing presidential candidate is facing trial, along with 26 others, accused of embezzling millions of euros in European Parliament funds by using them to pay staffers to do domestic politics instead of their work as parliamentary assistants. Her party, as a legal entity, is also facing charges.

During five hours of testimony earlier this week, Le Pen sought to turn the tables on the Parliament, describing it as an organ that co-opts its members, cutting them off from the citizens they are supposed to represent. 

Or, as she put it, MEPs risk being absorbed by the Blob.

“The European Parliament works in such a way that it swallows up the MEPs,” she claimed. “Everything is available within the European Parliament: You can sleep in, get your hair done, go to the bookshop … Everything is done so that MEPs can live within the European Parliament.” 

“The role of the party is to remind them to also engage in politics,” she added.

For Le Pen, the stakes are immense. She plans to run in the 2027 presidential election and is leading in the polls. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to €1 million and a possible five-year ban from public office.

The case alleges a scheme of misdirected funds that took place between 2004 and 2016. Central to the charges against Le Pen is her former assistant Catherine Griset.

Griset worked for Le Pen for nearly 25 years before becoming an MEP in 2019. Prosecutors accused her of doing work for Le Pen’s party in Paris while being paid as the far-right leader’s parliamentary assistant.

According to the prosecutors, during one period Griset spent 15 to 22 days a month at the party’s headquarters in Paris instead of the Parliament premises in Brussels and Strasbourg.

After investigators described how Griset only badged into the parliament for about 12 hours between October 2014 and August 2015, Le Pen answered saying that this was because Griset would enter the building as part of her entourage, with the security staff greeting them with “wide smiles.”

When Didier Klethi, director general of the Parliament, stated that only MEPs — not their assistants — could enter the premises without presenting a badge, Le Pen pushed back, suggesting that the Parliament’s administration might have been upset by the friendliness of the security staff to her Euroskeptic party’s members.

On Tuesday, Griset defended herself, insisting she “never worked for the party” but only for Le Pen. But she struggled to address key points, particularly regarding her time spent in Brussels. Griset acknowledged that she stayed in Belgium for only two nights a week, despite her contract requiring full-time residency.

In her testimony, Le Pen — one of France’s most prominent critics of the EU — challenged the premise of the charges, a tactic more likely to sway her supporters than the judges hearing the case. 

She argued it was wrong to separate the work an MEP does as an elected official from their party responsibilities — and that it was thus legitimate for their assistants to help with both. 

Central to the charges against Le Pen is her former assistant Catherine Griset (second right) | Jacques Demarthon/AFP via Getty Images

“I believe that members of parliament work to further their ideas,” she said. Participation in party activities, media appearances and “convincing new voters,” she argued, are part of an MEP’s responsibilities.

As to the time Griset spent in Paris, French MEPs should “defend French interests,” Le Pen said. 

“Others consider that the European Parliament is a political body in itself,” she added. “This is not our vision.”