France’s National Front (FN) party yesterday called for a French referendum on EU membership, cheering a “Brexit” vote after it was the only major French political party to call for Britons to vote to leave the EU.
“Victory for freedom!” tweeted FN leader Marine Le Pen, who displayed the British flag on her Twitter page. “We now need to hold the same referendum in France and in [other] EU countries.”
FN deputy head Florian Philippot said it was now France’s turn to vote to leave the EU.
“The liberty of peoples always wins in the end! Bravo to the United Kingdom,” he wrote on Twitter. “Our turn now #Brexit #Frexit.”
Since taking over from her father as FN leader, Jean-Marie, in 2011, Marine Le Pen has reworked the image of the FN to make it more mainstream. The party has done better, election after election — in the first round.
However, it still loses in run-offs, and now controls less than a dozen small and medium-sized municipalities.
Analysts, but also a few FN top officials and allies, have said its protectionist, anti-euro policy was partly to blame for this by putting off older voters.
Britain’s “Leave” vote can go a long way to help it overcome this, pollster IFOP analyst Frederic Dabi said.
“It’s good news for Le Pen, because the European issue was one of the key drags on FN voting,” Dabi said.
“Older voters, executives, feared a leap in the unknown because of its anti-EU stance, but the UK is setting a precedent. If it goes well there, it will make the FN’s stance look much more mainstream,” Dabi added.
Usually omnipresent in French media, Le Pen had become largely silent over the past few months after suffering a huge disappointment in regional elections in December last year.
The Brexit vote could well throw her back on the front scene.
Le Pen had last month said that if she won next year’s French presidential election, she would immediately start negotiations with Brussels on a series of sovereignty issues, including the single currency.
If those failed, she would ask voters to back leaving the EU in a referendum, she said.
Le Pen is the frontrunner among likely candidates ahead of next year’s presidential vote. However, polls see her losing the run-off.
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