It’s Remembrance Sunday and Marine Le Pen has just appeared on the Andrew Marr show to hail a new world order. The timing of the interview has opened the BBC to some criticism, with the National Front leader attacking NATO, discussing her father’s Holocaust comments, and waxing lyrical about Putin on a day the nation remember those who sacrificed themselves to secure our freedom.
In the interview, Le Pen said that Donald Trump’s win ought to be seen as ‘an additional stone in the building of a new world destined to replace the old one’. She drew parallels with the Brexit result and said if there were more referendums across Europe tomorrow, she was ‘absolutely convinced the elites would be in for another surprise’. Le Pen said she hoped the recent victories of ‘the people against the elite’ would help propel her, too, to victory in the French elections next spring: ‘if I can draw a parallel with France, then yes, I wish that in France also the people upend the table, around which the elites are dividing up what should go to the French people.’ Riding on the sentiments of some Brexit campaigners, Le Pen asked:
‘Do we want a multicultural society following the model of the English-speaking world, where fundamental Islam is progressing, where we see major religious claims, or do we want an independent nation with people able to control their own destiny, or do we accept to be a region managed by the technocrats of the European Union?’
While her chances in the election are still regarded as unlikely, she did offer some insights into what a Le Pen led France would look like. When asked whether muslims were welcome, she said they were not going to welcome any more people full stop. She praised Putin’s protectionism and queried why NATO even existed when the danger has passed. However, for many her comments today will have suggested quite the opposite. No doubt her bid will be on the agenda tonight when EU foreign ministers gather for an emergency meeting on what Trump’s victory means for Europe.
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