PARIS — The European parliament is asking France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen to start repaying hundreds of thousands of euros it says were wrongly paid to legislative aides.

An EU parliament letter to le Pen published by Challenges magazine gives Tuesday as the deadline to begin repayment of about 300,000 euros (USD $322,000).

In a second letter, the European parliament asks for the repayment of an additional 40,000 euros (USD $37,100) by Feb. 28.

The request follows the European anti-fraud office’s findings that some aides were paid from the European budget while actually working as Le Pen’s cabinet chief and bodyguard, breaking the parliament’s rules.

Le Pen, a leading presidential candidate in France, has denied any wrongdoing.

Her campaign director David Rachline said Tuesday on BFM television his party suffered “persecution” from EU authorities, suggesting she has no intention of paying.

“Is there any talk of a criminal conviction? None at all. Is there any talk of self-enrichment? None at all,” he said.

The European parliament can recover money by holding back part of her salary and allowances.

Europe’s anti-fraud office found that a total of 19 National Front members used aides on the European Parliament’s payroll for political activity. That spurred French prosecutors to open a separate investigation at the beginning of the month.

It’s one of multiple investigations around the National Front or its finances that are casting a shadow over Le Pen’s campaign for France’s April-May presidential election.

The repayment request comes as French justice opened a preliminary embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds probe regarding another presidential hopeful, conservative nominee Francois Fillon.

An investigation was opened last week over whether Fillon’s wife, Penelope, actually worked while being paid as his parliamentary aide at France’s lower house of parliament.

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s government adopted an emergency ordinance late Tuesday to decriminalize official misconduct, dealing a blow to a yearslong drive to curb corruption in the eastern European country.

Justice Minister Florin Iordache said the measure will decriminalize cases of official misconduct in which the financial damage is valued at less than 200,000 lei ($47,800). Tens of thousands of Romanians protested against the ordinance in recent weeks, saying it would weaken anti-graft efforts.

More protests erupted in cities across Romania after the announcement. Outside the main government offices in the capital, demonstrators called the ruling Social Democratic Party “the red plague.” Some chanted “You did it at night, like thieves,” referring to the late hour the ordinance was passed.

“This measure will render the anti-corruption fight irrelevant,” anti-corruption chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi told The Associated Press

She said the National Anticorruption Directorate had prosecuted 1,170 cases of abuse in office during the past three years with damages worth 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion). Kovesi has led a tough anti-corruption fight against senior politicians and other officials, earning praise from the U.S., Canada and the European Union.

President Klaus Iohannis, who has limited powers and doesn’t oversee the government, called the measure’s adoption “a day of mourning for the rule of law … which has received a grave blow from the enemies of justice.”

“From today onward, my mission is to re-establish the rule of law. I will do everything I can to make Romania a country free of corruption, until the last day of my mandate,” the president said.

Iordache said a proposal to pardon thousands of prisoners that the government says will ease overcrowding in prisons would be sent for approval to Parliament, where the government has a majority.

The anti-corruption agency said the decriminalization measure would “encourage the abusive behavior of public workers, dishonesty, (and) immorality.” About one-third of the agency’s prosecutions are related to abuse of office.

The agency said such a development would benefit both future offenders and those currently being investigated.

Iordache denied the proposal was designed to benefit politicians, a number of whom have been caught up in the country’s fight against high-level corruption.

Story: Nicholae Dumitrache, Vadim Ghirda

FRANKFURT, Germany — Official figures show Europe’s recovery is gathering speed, with inflation picking up and unemployment at its lowest in nearly eight years.

The official figures Tuesday from Eurostat showed inflation rose sharply, a move that will likely encourage critics who think it’s time for the European Central Bank to start withdrawing its stimulus programs. Inflation jumped to an annual 1.8 percent in January, from 1.1 percent the month before.

Growth inched up to 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 in the 19 countries that share the euro currency, from 0.4 percent the quarter before, while unemployment fell to 9.6 percent in December. That’s the lowest unemployment rate since May 2009, before a financial implosion in Greece kicked off a eurozone-wide debt crisis whose effects are still being felt.