The piece of paper was passed from the hands of French Prime Minister François Bayrou to those of Emmanuel Macron. Shortly before noon on Monday, March 31, the French president struggled to conceal his astonishment upon learning – during a closed-door meeting on environmental policy with around 15 ministers, where cell phones were prohibited – of the sentence handed down to Marine Le Pen by the Paris criminal court. The leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party had just been handed four years in prison, two of which suspended and the other two to be served at home with an electronic tag, along with a €100,000 fine and a five-year ban on running for office. There is fear at the highest levels of the French government that the judicial decision could trigger a major political upheaval. Even though Le Pen has filed an appeal, the "ineligibility" sentence applies immediately, preventing her from running in the 2027 presidential election unless she is able to successfully appeal before then.

While caution prevailed among government ministers, who refuse to comment on judicial decisions, Bayrou announced on Monday that he felt "troubled" by the judgment. His statement echoed the concerns he expressed in Le Figaro on Sunday, March 30: "If Marine Le Pen cannot run, there is a risk of shock in the public opinion," he confided. His position was sharply criticized by the left. Socialist leader Olivier Faure said he was "troubled by this prime ministerial trouble," lamenting that "respect for the law, the rule of law, and the separation of powers are no longer on the government's agenda."

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