Analysis: Le Pen verdict fuels debate that Europe’s ‘rule of law’ is throttling the ‘will of the people’

Has French democracy been destroyed? Instead of the presidential chair, a prison awaits the popular Marine Le Pen, who could even be head of state! Calin Georgescu, who won the first round of the Romanian presidential election, fared better than him, but the result was annulled by the Constitutional Court and he was expelled. And the German AfD will be impossible, and it will have no chance of governing.

To pass on political decisions to courts for a long time was common and convenient for parliaments and governments. That is the end of the era of populists and autocrats.

The CGT, SOS Racism and the Ligue des droits de l'homme call for a mobilization throughout France in response to the Rassemblement nationale's attacks on the judicial institution after the judgment of 31 March.

SOS Racisme, the Ligue des droits de l'Homme (LDH) and the CGT call for a rally in Paris and for "simultaneous mobilizations in all the cities of France" on 12 April. These organisations claim to respond to the "questioning" of "the rule of law by e...

After the verdict against Marine Le Pen, populists all over the world are solidaritying with the French politician. One thinks of herself as a victim of a left-wing judicial system. Their indignation follows a pattern – and a plan. For the courts, this becomes increasingly a problem.

This week, a French court found far-right figure Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling millions of euros in European Union funds and banned her from running for political office for five years, which…