Following a March 31 court ruling, Marine Le Pen's five-year ban from public office could fuel anti-establishment anger in France and deepen instability within Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's already fragile government. A Paris criminal court found French far-right National Rally (RN) party leader Marine Le Pen guilty of systematically embezzling EU funds on March 31 and sentenced her to four years in prison -- two of which are suspended -- alongside an immediate five-year ban from public office. While the five-year ban from holding public office takes effect immediately, Le Pen's four-year prison sentence will only be enforced once all legal avenues have been exhausted. Le Pen denounced the verdict as an attempt to block her path to the presidency and accused the court of undermining the rule of law and interfering with the democratic process. RN president and Le Pen's second-in-command Jordan Bardella described the ruling as "a democratic...
