Marine Le Pen took break from the leadership of the Front National party to fully engage in the second round of the presidential elections against Emmanuel Macron of the En Marche! movement. According to prosecutors Le Pen is suspected for using her MEP expenses to pay for party officials actually working for the Front National. The absence of the immunity will oblige her to accept the invitation for the interrogation by the prosecutors, consuming time and energy to weaken her position against the establishment favorite Macron, supported by incumbent President Holland, and two major parties.

Le Pen has already had her parliamentary immunity lifted over a separate affair dating back to 2015, when she shared graphic pictures of Islamic State atrocities on Twitter. Those pictures saw her placed under investigation for “dissemination of violent images”.