The French authorities opened a case against Mrs Le Pen in 2011 after she likened the sight of Muslims praying in the streets to the Nazi occupation of France.
As a European Parliament member (MEP), she enjoyed immunity from prosecution.
However, this protection was removed by a European parliamentary committee in a secret vote this week.
BBC chief political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue says he has been told that the vote to remove her immunity was "overwhelming".
It will need to be ratified by the full parliament, but that's expected to be a formality, our correspondent says.
When the parliament's legal affairs committee first tried to consider the case, Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far right National Front party, failed to turn up.
This week she sent a fellow French MEP in her place.
The move clears the way for the French authorities to pursue a case against the leader, who steered her party to a record 18% showing in the first round of last year's presidential election. » | Saturday, June 01, 2013
BBC: Paris ban on Muslim street prayers comes into effect » | Friday, September 16, 2011
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Marine Le Pen: Muslims in France 'like Nazi occupation': Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far-Right, drew heavy criticism after she said Muslims praying outside were like Nazi occupiers. » | Sunday, December 12, 2010
