The leader of the French far-right National Front party, Marine Le Pen, said that the UK referendum taking place on Thursday was proof that the EU was “decaying”, as she pressed her case for France to leave the bloc.
“I would vote for Brexit, even if I think that France has a thousand more reasons to leave than the UK,” Le Pen said in a televised interview on Tuesday evening. “Because we have the euro and Schengen,” she added, referring to the single currency and the passport-free zone.
“Whatever the result, it shows the EU is decaying, that there are cracks everywhere,” The Financial Times cited her as saying.
Le Pen described the EU as a “totalitarian” institution, that would not allow any of its members to leave. The EU was responsible for high unemployment, low growth and uncontrolled immigration, she claimed. “So let’s get around a table and create a Europe of the nations,” she said.
