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| France’s Far Right Sees an Opportunity in ‘Brexit’ | France’s Far Right Sees an Opportunity in ‘Brexit’ |
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| PARIS — Among the many populist movements in Europe encouraged by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, none was more energized than France’s far-right National Front, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, exulted soon after the results were announced that it was “a day of joy.” | PARIS — Among the many populist movements in Europe encouraged by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, none was more energized than France’s far-right National Front, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, exulted soon after the results were announced that it was “a day of joy.” |
| For nearly 30 years, the National Front has been vilifying the European Union while striking the same anti-immigration themes that animated the campaign in Britain. Now, with Britain having demonstrated the breadth and depth of opposition to the concentration of powers in Brussels and Europe’s open-borders policy, Ms. Le Pen is seizing the opportunity to build support for herself and her party heading into next year’s presidential election. | For nearly 30 years, the National Front has been vilifying the European Union while striking the same anti-immigration themes that animated the campaign in Britain. Now, with Britain having demonstrated the breadth and depth of opposition to the concentration of powers in Brussels and Europe’s open-borders policy, Ms. Le Pen is seizing the opportunity to build support for herself and her party heading into next year’s presidential election. |
| “This gives us additional legitimacy to carry forward this same debate in France,” she told journalists on Friday, calling for a “Frexit” referendum. | “This gives us additional legitimacy to carry forward this same debate in France,” she told journalists on Friday, calling for a “Frexit” referendum. |
| The far-right party took particular heart that support for cutting ties with the European Union came from places and voters in Britain that are very similar to the National Front’s base of support in France: working people who see themselves as losers from globalization; rural areas; and small and medium-size cities that feel left behind. | The far-right party took particular heart that support for cutting ties with the European Union came from places and voters in Britain that are very similar to the National Front’s base of support in France: working people who see themselves as losers from globalization; rural areas; and small and medium-size cities that feel left behind. |
| With President François Hollande of the governing Socialist Party lagging badly in the polls and the main center-right party wounded by internal problems, Ms. Le Pen is widely expected to do well enough in the initial round of presidential voting next spring to make it to the final round against a candidate from one of the mainstream parties. | With President François Hollande of the governing Socialist Party lagging badly in the polls and the main center-right party wounded by internal problems, Ms. Le Pen is widely expected to do well enough in the initial round of presidential voting next spring to make it to the final round against a candidate from one of the mainstream parties. |
| Actually winning the presidency remains a more remote prospect. But the issues raised by the British vote — sovereignty, national identity, immigration and a popular backlash against what is perceived as an out-of-touch elite — provide Ms. Le Pen with a powerful platform. | Actually winning the presidency remains a more remote prospect. But the issues raised by the British vote — sovereignty, national identity, immigration and a popular backlash against what is perceived as an out-of-touch elite — provide Ms. Le Pen with a powerful platform. |
| In an Op-Ed in The New York Times on Tuesday, Ms. Le Pen wrote that the British vote was about one fundamental question: “Do we want an undemocratic authority ruling our lives, or would we rather regain control over our destiny?” | In an Op-Ed in The New York Times on Tuesday, Ms. Le Pen wrote that the British vote was about one fundamental question: “Do we want an undemocratic authority ruling our lives, or would we rather regain control over our destiny?” |
| The idea of a referendum in France on membership in the European Union was curtly dismissed by Mr. Hollande in a meeting with Ms. Le Pen at the Élysée Palace on Saturday. The National Front is not backing down, though. | The idea of a referendum in France on membership in the European Union was curtly dismissed by Mr. Hollande in a meeting with Ms. Le Pen at the Élysée Palace on Saturday. The National Front is not backing down, though. |
| Ms. Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, a rising star in the party, said in a television interview on Monday that the so-called Brexit vote would inaugurate “a Europe where one doesn’t give up one’s sovereignty as a nation, for the benefit of stateless bureaucrats in Brussels.” | Ms. Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, a rising star in the party, said in a television interview on Monday that the so-called Brexit vote would inaugurate “a Europe where one doesn’t give up one’s sovereignty as a nation, for the benefit of stateless bureaucrats in Brussels.” |
| For all the differences between France, a founding member of the bloc and a consistent force in seeking greater unity on the Continent, and Britain, which joined late and rejected membership in initiatives like the common European currency, there are enough similarities in their economies and electorates to give hope to the National Front for a breakthrough. | For all the differences between France, a founding member of the bloc and a consistent force in seeking greater unity on the Continent, and Britain, which joined late and rejected membership in initiatives like the common European currency, there are enough similarities in their economies and electorates to give hope to the National Front for a breakthrough. |
| There are the gleaming stores and corporate headquarters of Paris, and wealth-creating, successful cities like Toulouse and Lyon. But then there is the France of abandoned villages and small towns, from which the last baker and butcher have fled, and the France of medium-size cities whose empty storefronts line main streets — what the newspaper Le Monde on Monday called “Ashfield-sur-Garonne” and “Thurrock-sur-Loire.” | |
| “In France, you’ve got to recognize the gulf between dynamic metropolises and a rural area that feels looked down on and abandoned,” Alain Juppé, a former prime minister and likely presidential candidate for the center-right Republicans, said in Le Monde on Monday. | “In France, you’ve got to recognize the gulf between dynamic metropolises and a rural area that feels looked down on and abandoned,” Alain Juppé, a former prime minister and likely presidential candidate for the center-right Republicans, said in Le Monde on Monday. |
| Sixty percent of the population lives in “Peripheral France,” as the French geographer and sociologist Christophe Guilluy calls it, — “those who are no longer useful to the economy, who live in the rural areas and the small towns,” he said in an interview. | Sixty percent of the population lives in “Peripheral France,” as the French geographer and sociologist Christophe Guilluy calls it, — “those who are no longer useful to the economy, who live in the rural areas and the small towns,” he said in an interview. |
| “No establishment party represents these areas,” Mr. Guilluy said. “That’s why you’ve got Trump, Brexit and the National Front,” he added, referring to Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee | “No establishment party represents these areas,” Mr. Guilluy said. “That’s why you’ve got Trump, Brexit and the National Front,” he added, referring to Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee |
| Anti-establishment anger is increasingly evident among the working-class left in France, mirroring a phenomenon in Britain in which disaffected Labour Party voters abandoned their party’s traditional pro-European stance to register their displeasure with policies and political leaders they felt had left them behind. | Anti-establishment anger is increasingly evident among the working-class left in France, mirroring a phenomenon in Britain in which disaffected Labour Party voters abandoned their party’s traditional pro-European stance to register their displeasure with policies and political leaders they felt had left them behind. |
| “They’ve been governing for years against their own program,” said Jean-Marc Sanglier, a printing worker who attended an anti-Hollande demonstration in Paris last week. He was doggedly participating in the season’s 10th straight march against a proposed overhaul of the country’s labor laws by Mr. Hollande’s increasingly market-oriented Socialists — a betrayal in the eyes of Mr. Sanglier and his thousands of fellow marchers. | “They’ve been governing for years against their own program,” said Jean-Marc Sanglier, a printing worker who attended an anti-Hollande demonstration in Paris last week. He was doggedly participating in the season’s 10th straight march against a proposed overhaul of the country’s labor laws by Mr. Hollande’s increasingly market-oriented Socialists — a betrayal in the eyes of Mr. Sanglier and his thousands of fellow marchers. |
| “Brexit is exactly the same as the National Front; it’s a vote based on the same sociology and demographics,” said Mr. Guilluy, whose work has earned him the anger of the French left and much attention in the news media partly because it stresses working-class cultural anxieties in the face of immigration. | “Brexit is exactly the same as the National Front; it’s a vote based on the same sociology and demographics,” said Mr. Guilluy, whose work has earned him the anger of the French left and much attention in the news media partly because it stresses working-class cultural anxieties in the face of immigration. |
| The themes that defined the referendum in Britain have also resonated in France because of the terrorist attacks of the past year and a half and the longstanding problems France has had assimilating Muslim immigrants. | The themes that defined the referendum in Britain have also resonated in France because of the terrorist attacks of the past year and a half and the longstanding problems France has had assimilating Muslim immigrants. |
| When Mr. Hollande reacted to the British vote in a televised address on Friday, the first priority he cited was “the security and defense of our Continent, to protect our frontiers.” | When Mr. Hollande reacted to the British vote in a televised address on Friday, the first priority he cited was “the security and defense of our Continent, to protect our frontiers.” |
| Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president who is running again as a center-right Republican, called France a “Christian country, in its culture and its morays,” in a much remarked-on speech this month at Saint-André-lez-Lille that called attention to the country’s “cultural, moral and even spiritual identity.” | Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president who is running again as a center-right Republican, called France a “Christian country, in its culture and its morays,” in a much remarked-on speech this month at Saint-André-lez-Lille that called attention to the country’s “cultural, moral and even spiritual identity.” |
| Emmanuelle Reungoat, a National Front specialist at the University of Montpellier, said the British vote “was centralized around finding migrants a risk.” | Emmanuelle Reungoat, a National Front specialist at the University of Montpellier, said the British vote “was centralized around finding migrants a risk.” |
| “In France, this could serve the National Front,” she said. “It’s an adaptation to the agenda of the National Front.” | “In France, this could serve the National Front,” she said. “It’s an adaptation to the agenda of the National Front.” |
| The British vote was also seized on to varying degrees by other far-right parties around Europe. Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands joined Ms. Le Pen in quickly calling for a referendum on membership in the bloc, although the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany stopped short of doing the same. That party has called for a “Europe of Nations” — a new emphasis on national sovereignty — while avoiding the question of an exit from the bloc. | The British vote was also seized on to varying degrees by other far-right parties around Europe. Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands joined Ms. Le Pen in quickly calling for a referendum on membership in the bloc, although the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany stopped short of doing the same. That party has called for a “Europe of Nations” — a new emphasis on national sovereignty — while avoiding the question of an exit from the bloc. |
| In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party suggested making a vote contingent on whether the European Union continued with its “migration madness,” as its leader put it. Italy’s Five Star Movement, the second most popular party there, called for a nonbinding referendum on leaving the euro currency. | In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party suggested making a vote contingent on whether the European Union continued with its “migration madness,” as its leader put it. Italy’s Five Star Movement, the second most popular party there, called for a nonbinding referendum on leaving the euro currency. |
| In France, the British vote has accentuated the split between the mainstream parties in France, none of whom are calling for an exit, and the National Front. “It’s almost as though I used a curse word,” Ms. Le Pen said acidly as she left the Elysée after her fruitless pitch to Mr. Hollande for a referendum. | In France, the British vote has accentuated the split between the mainstream parties in France, none of whom are calling for an exit, and the National Front. “It’s almost as though I used a curse word,” Ms. Le Pen said acidly as she left the Elysée after her fruitless pitch to Mr. Hollande for a referendum. |
| Given the array of other issues facing France, including a near-stagnant economy and high unemployment, it remains to be seen how central an issue membership in the bloc might be in the presidential race. But the National Front appears intent on using the moment. | Given the array of other issues facing France, including a near-stagnant economy and high unemployment, it remains to be seen how central an issue membership in the bloc might be in the presidential race. But the National Front appears intent on using the moment. |
| “I am European by civilization, and I am French by nationality,” Ms. Maréchal-Le Pen said on Monday. “I wouldn’t defend this cold monster that saps European identity.” | “I am European by civilization, and I am French by nationality,” Ms. Maréchal-Le Pen said on Monday. “I wouldn’t defend this cold monster that saps European identity.” |