Chenu: “There is nothing left to accelerate” – RN awaits Court of Cassation decision after Le Pen’s candidacy

Paris – 08.07.2026: After Marine Le Pen’s official declaration that she will run in the 2027 presidential election, Sébastien Chenu, vice president of the Rassemblement National (RN) and MP from the Département Nord, outlined the party’s next steps. “There is nothing left to accelerate,” Chenu said with reference to the pourvoi announced by Le Pen before the Cour de cassation. The RN accepts the judicial timetable and will await the decision of the highest instance, while the campaign is being set up organizationally.

The trigger is the judgment of the Cour d’appel de Paris of 7 July 2026 in the proceedings concerning allegedly fictitious assistant positions in the European Parliament. A confirmed conviction with imposed Inéligibilité could legally restrict Le Pen’s ability to run. By going to the Cour de cassation, however, the defense is using a remedy that does not deal with the facts of the case but with possible legal and procedural errors. Until the decision, the enforcement of individual consequences of the judgment can be suspended; the scope depends on the specific wordings and deadlines.

Observers of the proceedings point out that the Cour de cassation schedules hearings after receiving the files and the report from the Attorney General’s office. Decisions can be made within a few months, but sometimes much later. For political planning this means uncertainties: the RN is calculating with parallel tracks – legal defense on the one hand, mobilization and program work on the other. Party leader Jordan Bardella plays a central role in public messaging and campaign leadership.

Substantively the party is preparing outwardly visible stages, from thematic initiatives on economic and security issues to regional events. Internally, it’s about structures for financing, volunteer management and candidate presence – with an eye to media timing, debate formats and possible legal turns. For rival parties the situation creates a tactical dilemma: on the one hand they press for clarity about the legal dimension, on the other they respond to the early campaign launch by the right-wing populists with their own positions.

Two paths will be decisive for the further course: on the one hand the decision of the Cour de cassation on the pourvoi, which decides on the survival or overturning of central elements of the appeals court judgment; on the other hand the RN’s ability to present stable leadership personnel and consistent messages despite ongoing proceedings. Both will determine how the race for 2027 takes shape – and whether Le Pen personally or the narrower leadership team carries the campaign.