PARIS — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen isn’t on the ballot at the weekend’s European Parliament election, but she’s likely to emerge as one of its biggest winners.
Polls expect her National Rally party to be the top vote-getter in France, trouncing President Emmanuel Macron’s moderate pro-business party. And across Europe, the anti-immigration, nationalist ideas Le Pen has long championed are gaining ground.
The June 6-9 elections in all 27 EU countries will shift the makeup of the European Parliament and policy-making in the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, likely further toward the right and far right. And that could boost Le Pen’s chances of winning France’s presidency in 2027, a long-time dream.
The National Rally’s lead European Parliament candidate Jordan Bardella is riding high on promises to limit free movement of migrants within the EU’s open borders, ease up EU pressure on Russia and dial back EU climate rules.
“We stand by the idea of rethinking the European model around the idea of nations. Macron’s Europe is a model of the past,″ Bardella said at a Paris rally Sunday.
Macron’s pro-EU movement meanwhile is flailing, and its chief candidate Valerie Hayer has struggled to make a mark. That’s troubling for Macron as he tries to lead Europe-wide efforts to defend Ukraine and boost the EU’s own defenses and industry.
READ MORE:
Views: 162