We are yet to hear directly from Marine Le Pen as she remains locked in talks with her closest allies inside the party headquarters.
As reported earlier, she is expected to appear on live TV later tonight at 8pm Paris time (7pm London time).
But for now, that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, on this blog.
We will bring you the key lines from her interview later in our coverage on Guardian Europe – and in our Europe Live blog tomorrow.
Bardella's call for 'peaceful mobilisation' first glimpse of party's response to court's verdict - snap analysis
That is an important public response from Bardella, giving us early insight into how the party intends to respond to today’s verdict.
The plan, unsurprisingly, seems to be to go on the attack: mobilise its supporters and press ahead with the narrative that there is an elite out to get Le Pen and her party and stop her political career – exactly as Angelique said earlier.
It’s worth noting that Bardella could eventually become the National Rally’s candidate in 2027 if Le Pen is ultimately blocked from joining the race. It’s still very early days, but his name is expected to be in the mix – and it surely won’t harm his chances internally if the party faithful see him as a loyal ally, rallying the troops to support Le Pen at a particularly tricky moment for her political career.
