Hubert Falco's ineligibility: it's time for his final appeal to the Court of Cassation. Here are the issues at stake in the hearing taking place this Wednesday.

"He's as we know him: combative!" confides municipal councilor Benoît Pelletier, close to Hubert Falco. For the former mayor of Toulon, the fight is now being played out 840 kilometers further north. On the Île de la Cité, in the heart of Paris, to be precise. This is where his (final?) legal recourse is taking place this Wednesday, starting at 10 a.m.: an appeal to the Court of Cassation . The challenge for his clan and him? Obtaining the opening of a new appeal trial, with the hope of a "less severe" decision. And why not, a case law on ineligibility.

To defend him? Not Toulon lawyer Thierry Fradet, who has had the case in hand for four years, but Hélène Farge, a lawyer at the Court of Cassation since 1988. "Given the number of years during which Mr. Falco was elected, if he had been a crook as described in the ruling (of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, in May 2024, Editor's note) , it would have been known before, probably," says the specialist, who has planned a "short intervention" before the attorney general delivers his conclusions. This time, the justice system will not have to rule on the substance of the so-called "fridge" case. It will only be a question of procedure, via several "technical" elements.

"I raised questions about the proportionality of the sentences and the reasoning behind the ruling on certain points," said Ms. Hélène Farge, "while Hubert Falco was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended, a €30,000 fine, and a five-year ban on election for receiving stolen public funds. The appeals court, for example, is unable to put a figure on the alleged embezzlement, which is the meals taken in the canteen." Among other things. Then he adds: "There is clearly a procedural problem which is not uninteresting. [...] It is a rather curious case, because there was really an outburst."

Marine Le Pen's case in mind?

The Court of Cassation will therefore have to consider the reasons for Hubert Falco's ineligibility, with provisional (and therefore immediate) execution. And this comes one month after the Constitutional Council rejected the priority question of constitutionality (QPC) on this sensitive issue, which the former Var boss had joined.

The latter had also imagined returning to business, as a simple municipal councilor, at first. "I added, after the decision of the Constitutional Council, a rather technical additional means on the conditions under which one can pronounce the provisional execution accompanied by a sentence of ineligibility, underlines the Parisian lawyer . There is an opportunity for the Criminal Chamber to clarify the conditions for the pronouncement of this provisional execution, even if I am not certain that it will seize it..."

A question of timing? For her, current national events would not play in her client's favor: the Court of Cassation probably " does not want to lay down general rules " and " clarify the situation " before " cases in which its decision might have more effect " come to it. In other words, not before one day seeing a case like that of Marine Le Pen (whose candidacy for the presidency of the Republic is uncertain) and the parliamentary assistants of the National Rally (formerly the National Front).

A decision rendered in June

To definitively determine his fate, Hubert Falco, who has not responded to our requests for comment, will have to wait another four to six weeks after the hearing. Just like his supporters and opponents, for whom this stage should mark the start of the municipal election campaign in Toulon. That is, sometime in June. " We will finally be able to turn the dark page on the end of his reign ," says a leading figure in Toulon's political life.

In the best-case scenario for the former mayor, it's hard to imagine a new appeal before the next elections in March, given that he had to wait a year after the first ruling. All is not lost, however. The man who was also head of the Toulon metropolitan area until April 2023 has already announced to some his intention to run in... 2032.