FILE: key Macron ally Bayrou faces charges over fake jobs claims Former French Justice Minister François Bayrou is facing charges over fake a jobs scandal that has hit his small centrist MoDem party, an important ally to President Emmanuel Macron's party. Paris prosecutors are investigating claims that MoDem was using European parliamentary funds for assistants who were in fact carrying out other tasks for the centrist party. It is not the only French party accused of the fraudulent use of EU funds. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally and the far-left France Unbowed have also been accused of tapping into EU funds for parliamentary assistants to pay for party work at home. FILE IMAGES of François Bayrou