#MarineLePen opposed to #Frexit - #ConventionMLP

In response to a direct question: "Do you want to leave the EU? Yes or No?", the leader of the Front National, French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said: “No, I think we must renegotiate with the EU," writes Catherine Feore.

The response came as a surprise to those who thought Le Pen wanted a #Frexit. Her position now appears to be more in tune with Eurosceptic 'Remainer' and former prime minister David Cameron than UKIP’s Nigel Farage.

Le Pen outlined three main objectives for renegotiation, in the interview with journalist Jacques Bourdin of BFM.TV - to leave the eurozone, to reclaim border controls, leaving Schengen and to have more control over the French budget. If agreed, this would be tantamount to achieving the current status the UK enjoys.

The ECU/franc

Le Pen is calling for the return of a national currency, claiming that there will be massive job creation when “we shall raise the biggest obstacle to our reindustrialization: the single currency”. However, she indicated that she saw a common currency and a national currency working side-by-side. She asserted that this would work like the ECU.

The ECU was a precursor to the euro and was an attempt to minimize the fluctuation between EU member states’ currencies. It was replaced by the euro in 1999, when the ECU was exchanged one for one with the euro. What this would mean in practice is a little unclear, but it suggests that Le Pen would support a national currency that afforded some fluctuation within limited parameters.

Another referendum…

Le Pen says she would renegotiate France’s relationship with the EU in her first six months in office. The renegotiation would be followed by a referendum on the deal reached. This raises a lot of interesting speculative questions: If Le Pen was elected president, would she be able to negotiate a deal that she could support? And, if she held a referendum, would it receive popular support?

The economy is more important to the French electorate than immigration. While the economy is experiencing anaemic economic growth, real wages have increased by 10.5% since 2007, compared to a 10.4% decline in the UK over the same period.

The French public may share similar misgivings about 'Brussels', but their media is not as virulently Eurocynical as the British press.

Recent opinion polls suggest that the French are not as hostile as the British to the EU. Indeed, polls suggest that the prospect of Brexit has led to growing support for Europe. It is hard to imagine the French supporting an all-or-nothing deal à la anglaise - the economic insanity of a complete schism with the rest of the EU is just not on the agenda.

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