Lille, France - The European Union will disappear, French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen told a rally on Sunday, promising to shield France from globalisation as she sought to fire up her supporters in the final four weeks before voting gets underway. Buoyed by the unexpected election of US President Donald Trump and by Britain's vote to leave the EU, Le Pen told the rally in Lille that the French election would be the next step in what she called a global rebellion of the people. 'The European Union will die because the people do not want it anymore... arrogant and hegemonic empires are destined to perish,' the leader of the eurosceptic and anti-immigrant National Front (FN) party said to loud cheers and applause. 'The time has come to defeat globalists,' she said, accusing her main rivals, centrist Emmanuel Macron and conservative Francois Fillon, of 'treason' for their pro-EU, pro-market policies. Opinion polls forecast that Le Pen will do well in the first round of the presidential election on April 23, only to lose the May 7 run-off to Macron. The high number of undecided voters means the outcome remains unpredictable and motivating people to go to the polling stations will be key for the top candidates. Its opposition to the EU and the euro currency underlines an anti-establishment stance that pleases the FN's grassroots supporters and attracts voters angry with globalisation.
Le Pen said she would seek to replace it with 'another Europe', which she called 'the Europe of the people', based on a loose cooperative of nations. But it is also likely to be an obstacle to power in a country where a majority oppose a return to the franc. Le Pen has over the past few months tried to tackle this by criticising the unpopular EU while telling voters she would not abruptly pull France out of the bloc or the euro but instead hold a referendum after six months of renegotiating the terms of France's EU membership. (FA)
