Why this moment matters for France

Paul KirbyEurope digital editor Today's appeal verdict was supposed to fire the starting pistol on the presidential race. We now have to wait for a clear-cut decision from Marine Le Pen, whether she will run or not. The first round of elections is on 18 April 2027 and the run-off if no candidate secures a majority vote is on 2 May. Le Pen has already run for president three times and came second to Emmanuel Macron in 2022 and 2017. With under 10 months to go before the vote, she leads in the pol