Marine Le Pen calls immigration a 'THREAT' to French values during attack on globalisation
MARINE LE PEN branded globalisation a “catastrophe” as she claimed mass immigration had become a “threat” to French values.
Marine Le Pen confident on win: they said Brexit wouldn't happen
During her latest interview, the Front National leader blamed migration for "undeniably" changing French culture over recent years.
The 48-year-old has built her surging campaign around fierce criticism of the European Union.
She has vowed to renegotiate France’s membership with the Brussels club or leave it all together if she is successful in the looming French elections.
The MEP believes globalisation, promoted for decades by French politicians, has left neighbourhoods “no longer living a French life”.
Marine Le Pen used the Brexit result as an example of how she can win the French election
There are a number of neighbourhoods where you are no longer living a French life.
“Wild globalisation has benefited some, but it’s been a catastrophe for most," she told CBS.
“A catastrophe which has ravaged the French economy, as jobs have faded away and immigrants have flooded in, many of them Muslim immigrants, from North Africa.
“They are draining resources, rejecting French values and transforming the culture.”
The Front National leader described globalisation as "savage"
Polls suggest the nationalist leader is likely to win the first round of France’s election on April 23.
However, surveys also show she would lose the deciding final run-off in May to the centrist Emmanuel Macron.
Despite the odds against her, Ms Le Pen believes she can cash in on recent the rise of populism in the West.
Emmanuel Macron is favourite to win the French election
She said: “They also said that Brexit wasn’t going to happen, that Donald Trump wasn’t going to be elected, wasn’t even going to be his party’s nominee.
“Well, they’re saying that less and less now. They are much more cautious, much more cautious now.”
Ms Le Pen has built her campaign around her fierce criticism of the European Union.
Ms Le Pen’s chances of winning the looming election were given a fresh boost on Monday when former prime minister Alain Juppe revealed he wouldn’t stand in the race to replace scandal-hit Francois Fillon.
Mr Fillon found himself in hot water over allegations that members of his family were paid taxpayers’ money for fictitious jobs.
The claims have seen him lose support within the centre-right party and in opinion polls.
A poll on Friday showed if Mr Juppe had become the new centre-right candidate, he would likely win the election's first round in April, with Emmanuel Macron coming second - knocking anti-Brussels Ms Le Pen out of the race.
Outgoing president Francois Hollande said it was his "duty" to stop a Le Pen victory
Outgoing president Francois Hollande, who is not standing in the election, argued it was his "ultimate duty" before leaving office to prevent a Le Pen victory.
In an interview with several European newspapers, Mr Hollande said he would ensure France was not "won over by such a programme".
"It is the goal of all the populists, wherever they are, to leave Europe, to close the world and to imagine a future surrounded by barriers of all kinds and borders defended by watchtowers," he said.