Frexit looks harder than Brexit, but Marine le Pen wants to try
Paris — France’s far-right National Front leader Marine le Pen, who wants to become president in next year’s elections, celebrated Britain’s vote to leave the EU. "Victory for freedom!" she said on her Twitter page in June after Britons voted for Brexit. "We now need to hold the same referendum in France and in [other] EU countries." But unlike Britain, France has a written constitution, which states that "the Republic is part of the EU". So a "Frexit" would require a constitutional change that experts say is difficult, but not impossible. Pollsters say Le Pen is unlikely to become president, but if she does, she has promised to seek revised terms for France’s EU membership, and then ask in a referendum if voters want to leave. She says EU membership has stripped France of autonomy, including on immigration and monetary and fiscal policy. Given surging support for populists worldwide, the chance of an electoral upset in the eurozone’s second-largest economy is being taken seriously ...
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