Marine Le Pen
With the French presidential elections right around the corner, Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Front, has announced her presidential candidacy on February 5, 2017 in Lyon, France. She told thousands of flag-waving supporters chanting "This is our country!" that she alone would protect them against Islamic fundamentalism and globalization if elected president in May. Daughter of the controversial party founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who last year repeated an old anti-Semitic slur on how Nazi gas chambers were "a detail of history," is now leading the polls as an outsider and hoping for a populist momentum in France.
Eventually, Le Pen succeeded her father as the leader of the National Front and polished up the party's dubious, xenophobic image as she attempted to rid herself of the far right label. But the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.
The National Front
The National Front was a fringe movement of xenophobes, nationalists, and former Nazi collaborators when it was created in the early 1970s. The political wilderness emerged in the 1980s by forging some alliances with other ring-wing movements- and won seats in the European elections in 1984. Today, the party keeps a tough stance against immigration and the EU but with Le Pen's "de-demonisation" efforts, it has (sort of) softened up its image.
Le Pen's Policies
Already, four established candidates for the presidency—two former presidents and two former prime ministers—have been chewed up and spit back out by French voters. The campaign is being taken over by outsiders, notably, France's far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen. Which poses the question: can the outsiders still be beaten by an electoral system intended to keep them out of power? The people are more than ready to head out into the streets, mostly like a scene out of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. In the film, Enjolras hopes for a much more glorious time when "thinkers will be completely free, believers completely equal, no more hatred, jobs and rights for all." But soon after, Enjolras gets killed and his dream remains a dream nearly two centuries on.
France in its modern history has exhausted out five monarchies, five republics, and 16 constitutions—and two of this year's presidential candidates are demanding a 17th. Her radical ideas seem inexplicably similar to those of Trump as she mentioned on how his victory was "good news" to France.
The National Front is essentially threatening to massacre the whole EU monetary system. It's long been said that if Spain or Italy were to abandon the euro, it could spell ruin for the entire currency bloc. Were France—the eurozone's second-largest economy—to unilaterally bid adieu, it would be even more calamitous. Markets would seize. The cost of borrowing would soar and become prohibitively costly for many smaller countries in the prospect of a chaotic breakup, which could conceivably lead to sovereign defaults by governments unable to roll over debts. If the EU agrees to this, Le Pen pledges to take France out of the eurozone and potentially, hold a referendum to Frexit.
Also, French Jews who also hold Israeli citizenship will have to give up one of their nationalities if Marine Le Pen wins the presidential election this spring. She said: “Israel is not a European country and doesn’t consider itself as such. I’m asking the Israelis to choose their nationality. It doesn’t mean that if they don’t choose French nationality, they have to leave." She said she would bar the French from holding the citizenship of countries outside the European Union, except for Russia, as she is an avid admirer of Putin, she described Russia as "the Europe of nations." Le Pen's creating a pure French nationality, as she mentioned too, that dual U.S nationals would also have to forgo their American citizenship, despite her support for Donald Trump and her backing of his executive order restricting travel to the US from seven mainly Muslim nations.
She may be projected to win the first round of voting in the French presidential election in April, but pollsters predict she would lose in the run-off. Fingers crossed here, because let's be honest, we don't need a female version of the Donald.
