François Bayrou faces appeal trial over European Parliament assistant funds

Appeal trial opens at the Paris Court of Appeal

Former French prime minister François Bayrou and ten former officials from the Democratic Movement (MoDem) will appear before the Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday afternoon, 9 September 2026. The appeal proceedings are scheduled to continue for four weeks, with hearings concluding on 2 October 2026. A total of thirteen defendants are involved in the trial, comprising Bayrou, ten former party officials, and two political organizations prosecuted as legal entities: MoDem and its historical predecessor, the Union for French Democracy (UDF). The retrial takes place after the public prosecutor filed an appeal against Bayrou's acquittal by the lower criminal court in early 2024. The centrist party leader, who stood as a presidential candidate three times, will lead the defense as the primary defendant before the appellate judges. Bayrou addressed reporters directly regarding his stance prior to entering the courtroom.

I approach this trial with great serenity and great confidence.

Misappropriation charges and financial scope

The case involves allegations of misappropriating public funds from the European Parliament between 2005 and 2017. Prosecutors state that the defendants improperly routed approximately 300,000 euros across eleven employment contracts designated for parliamentary assistants. The prosecution maintains that these individuals, although remunerated by European Union funds, worked primarily or exclusively for the domestic operations of the centrist party in France rather than fulfilling parliamentary duties. The individual defendants facing charges include former justice minister Michel Mercier, who served as party treasurer during the period in question, along with five former members of the European Parliament, including Jean-Luc Bennahmias. Three party administrators and one parliamentary assistant also stand trial on counts of public funds misappropriation, complicity, or concealment of stolen funds.

First-instance convictions and Bayrou's acquittal

On 5 February 2024, the Paris criminal court ruled that fraudulent employment had occurred within the party apparatus, imposing heavy financial fines on MoDem alongside suspended prison sentences of 10 to 18 months and suspended ineligibility terms for several co-defendants. However, the trial judges acquitted Bayrou of direct wrongdoing, noting that no documents in the case file established that he had instructed the five MEPs to hire assistants on fictitious terms. The criminal court observed that while it was very probable that actions carried out by three of the defendants took place with Bayrou's authorization, prosecutors had failed to submit tangible legal proof of that consent. The lower court also rejected the characterization of a systemic apparatus within MoDem, differentiating the matter from the European assistant case involving the National Rally, in which Marine Le Pen received a home detention sentence under electronic monitoring in both first instance and on appeal.

Political background and timeline

The judicial proceedings have spanned ten years, beginning in June 2017 when preliminary investigations forced Bayrou to resign as minister of justice only one month after his cabinet appointment. Following his February 2024 acquittal, Bayrou described the ruling as the conclusion of a seven-year nightmare, but the subsequent appeal by prosecutors extended the legal dispute by nearly three additional years. During the intervening period, Bayrou was appointed prime minister of France and governed for nine months before leaving the Matignon premiership on 9 September 2025, exactly one year prior to the start of this appeal trial. Bayrou has confirmed that he will not run in the 2027 presidential election as he prepares to spend the next month addressing the charges in the Paris courtroom.