Quoting Not-Tallyrand

Three days ago, the the European anti-fraud office released a report that Marine Le Pen had misused funds in her capacity and a European MEP.

They finished the report in September, and French prosecutors received the report last month, but it came out on Tuesday.

Le Pen is claiming that this is a rat-f%$#ing from Brussels, and considering the timing, 6 days before the French Presidential elections, the optics of the timing are horrible.

It is worse than a crime, it is a mistake:

Marine Le Pen has dismissed allegations that she misappropriated tens of thousands of euros in EU funds as a “dirty tricks” campaign by Brussels days ahead of the second and final round of a tight presidential election race against Emmanuel Macron.

The far-right challenger has come under scrutiny over her party’s use of EU funds dating to when she was an MEP, after the European anti-fraud office, known as Olaf, submitted a report listing alleged abuses to French prosecutors.

Olaf on Monday confirmed it had finalised a report last September, while Paris prosecutors said they received the allegations in March and had begun examining it, although they declined to comment on their content. French investigative news site Mediapart on Saturday published excerpts of the report, and said Le Pen was accused of misappropriating €137,000. The Financial Times could not verify the extract published by Mediapart.

“I’m used to these kind of dirty tricks of the European Union, a few days before the second round. I don’t think the French will fall for that,” Le Pen told journalists during a campaign visit in Normandy. “I evidently absolutely reject these accusations.”

Le Pen has previously been in the spotlight over her party’s use of EU funds. Magistrates in France placed her under formal investigation in 2018 for alleged misuse of public funds over the salaries paid to EU parliamentary assistants. That case has yet to run its course.

French prosecutors have yet to decide whether to take the latest allegations further and bring charges. Some of the funds under scrutiny date back to 2010, according to Mediapart, which said Olaf claimed that in total just over €617,000 was misappropriated, including by other far-right French MPs from Le Pen’s party, now called the Rassemblement National (National Rally).

They are accused not of benefiting personally but of misusing funds designated for EU-linked affairs for events that pertained to national French affairs or internal party matters. Mediapart cited the example of €23,100 used in 2014 to buy promotional kit for Le Pen’s party such as key rings and later distributed at a congress for her far-right movement in France.

If this had been released before the first round, there is a pretty good chance that the left wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who finished only 1.3% behind Le Pen would have made the runoff, which is likely explains the timing:  The European powers that be would rather have a Fascist in the runoff than an actual leftist.

This perception might lead the people who voted for Mélenchon to not vote, which is exactly the opposite effect intended.