French far-right leader Marine Le Pen went on trial Monday on charges of embezzling European Parliament money, in a case that could endanger her presidential ambitions.
"I will answer all the questions that the court wants to ask me," the three-time presidential candidate told the Paris criminal court.
Le Pen and other National Rally (RN) party chiefs are accused of creating fake jobs to embezzle European Parliament money. If convicted, sanctions could include jail but also a decade-long ban from public office which would wreck Le Pen's hopes of succeeding President Emmanuel Macron in a 2027 election.
The RN this year achieved record scores in European elections, performed strongly in France's legislative vote and could decide the fate of Prime Minister Michel Barnier's new minority government.
"We have not broken any rules," the 56-year-old said before the trial, adding she was "very calm".
Le Pen said "parliamentary freedom" was at stake and she was ready to defend it.
Le Pen is among 25 people charged at the trial, which is set to last until November 27.
In the dock are the RN party, nine former MEPs including Le Pen and party vice-president Louis Aliot, spokesman Julien Odoul -- one of nine former parliamentary assistants -- and four RN staff.
"The main risk for the president of the RN group in the French National Assembly is not financial, but political," said French daily Le Monde.
First flagged in 2015, the alleged fake jobs system covers contracts for parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016.
Prosecutors say the assistants worked exclusively for the party outside parliament.
- Bodyguard and designer -
Many were unable to describe their day-to-day work and some never met their supposed MEP boss or set foot in the parliament building.
A bodyguard, secretary, Le Pen's chief of staff and a graphic designer were all allegedly hired under false pretences.
Misuse of public funds can be punished with a million-euro ($1.1 million) fine, 10 years' jail and a 10-year bar from public office.
European Parliament authorities say the legislature lost three million euros.
The RN has paid back one million euros, which it insists is not an admission of guilt.
The party has for years called the investigation a form of "persecution" and political abuse of the justice system.
In February, veteran centrist Francois Bayrou was acquitted in a seven-year case over the fraudulent employment of parliamentary assistants by his party, with the judge ruling he was owed the "benefit of the doubt".
"What applies to one should apply to the other," said RN lawmaker Sebastien Chenu.
The RN has capitalised on Macron's unpopularity after he successfully cast the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections as a straight choice between him and the far right.
First-place RN result in June's European elections prompted Macron to call snap elections, and his gamble led to conservative Barnier's fragile minority coalition.
- 'Don't like Europe' -
"We have nothing to reproach ourselves for," Le Pen told French newspaper Le Parisien in September, adding parliamentary assistants were not "employees of the European Parliament" and some had other jobs as well.
Prosecutors say Le Pen and her father, former party leader Jean-Marie, both signed off on a "centralised system" that picked up pace in 2014.
Now 96, Le Pen senior is among those charged but has been deemed not fit to stand trial.
The RN and its former incarnation the National Front (FN) "don't like Europe. The only thing they like is the European Union's money," said Patrick Maisonneuve, representing the European Parliament as a co-plaintiff.
Evidence against the party includes contracts for periods as short as a single day to squeeze every cent out of their spending allowances.
One message from party treasurer Wallerand de Saint-Just warned about the party's disastrous finances, writing "we won't get out of this without making significant savings thanks to the European Parliament".