Marine Le Pen: Deadline passes for National Front leader to repay EU funds

Marine Le Pen denies any wrongdoing

A European Parliament deadline for France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen to return more than 300,000 euros (£257,000; $321,000) it says she has misspent, has passed.

The presidential candidate had until midnight to repay the money, but said she had no intention of doing so. The parliament says she wrongly used the funds to pay an aide at the National Front's headquarters in Paris.


She says she is the victim of a politically motivated vendetta. If she does not repay the money, the parliament could now respond by withholding as much as half of her salary and allowances, which her opponents say total almost €11,000 a month.

Ms Le Pen is one of the front-runners in the French presidential election to be held in April and May. If she wins, she has promised a Brexit-style referendum on France's membership of the EU.

Polls suggest that she will make it to the run-off where she is likely to face conservative candidate Francois Fillon or centrist Emmanuel Macron.

• New 'fake job' claim for France's Fillon
• Benoit Hamon wins French Socialist vote
• What makes Marine Le Pen far right?