'We're prisoners of Europe' Marine Le Pen voter BLASTS EU ahead of French election
FRANCE is being held prisoner by the European Union and Marine Le Pen wants to end our captivity, a eurosceptic voter roared ahead of Sunday’s Presidential elections.
Le Pen voter rips into EU: ‘We’re prisoners of Europe’
As the French public head to the polls to vote in the first round of the elections this weekend, one voter told France24 the country had paid a high price for its bloc membership.
Hitting out at the European Union, he said: “In the end we lost a lot of things, purchasing power for instance because of the Euro.
“[Marine Le Pen]’s main objective is to leave the EU and the Euro. We’re now prisoners of the Euro and Europe and it was supposed to be the opposite.”
While a second voter, speaking at a Ms Le Pen rally in Paris, added: “If the French are the ones who chose, whether I agree or disagree with the leaders, it’s the majority who chooses so I accept it.
“But when it’s the technocrats who decide what our laws are going to be then I disagree.”
A poll done for France24 suggested almost half of French voters want the country to hold a referendum on membership of the bloc.
The Voxpop Labs survey, with more than 40,000 participants, found 49 per cent of those asked agreed or strongly agreed France should have a vote on its future inside the EU.
While 12 per cent said they remained neutral, 38 per cent said they either disagreed or strongly disagreed.
Le Pen: Eurozone cannot survive without France
We’re now prisoners of the Euro and Europe and it was supposed to be the opposite
France is due to hold the first round two rounds of voting in the presidential election this weekend.
Latest polls suggest Ms Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron are neck-and-neck, despite Jean-Luc Mélenchon surging in popularity in recent weeks.
Mr Mélenchon now stands just a point behind former Prime Minister Francois Fillon, whose own bid has been hampered by the ‘Penelopegate’ scandal.
After Sunday’s vote, the two leading candidates will progress to the second and final round of voting on Sunday May 7.
The French election was rocked, ahead of polling, after a terrorist attack in Paris on Thursday night.
A police officer was killed and two others were seriously injured after a gunman opened fire close to the Champs Elysees. A tourist was also shot in the leg but the injury is not thought to be life-threatening.
Serving President Francois Hollande said: “We shall be of the utmost vigilance, especially in relation to the election.”