A hopeful in France sees wave of change

FRENCH FAR-RIGHT presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen praised President Trump on Saturday and said 2017 will be the “year of the awakening of the people of continental Europe.”

Addressing an unprecedented meeting of European right-wing populists in Germany, Le Pen said that Trump’s victory along with England’s shock departure from the European Union have unleashed an unstoppable wave of “all the dominos of Europe.”

“His position on Europe is clear. He does not support a system of the oppression of peoples,” she said of Trump. “2016 was the year the Anglo-Saxon world woke up. I am certain 2017 will be the year when the people of continental Europe wake up.”

“It’s no longer a question of if, but when,” she added as she railed against migration, the euro and open borders.

The event was billed as a “European counter-summit” attended by anti-immigration and anti-Islamic groups from across the continent.

Many in the crowd praised Trump as a harbinger of change.

“Yesterday, a new America. Today — hello Koblenz — a new Europe!” Dutch anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders said as he opened his speech in the German city of Koblenz on the banks of the Rhine River.

Populist parties have been surging in polls in Europe and the leaders’ mood was celebratory as they came together in support of one another the day after Trump was sworn in.

Trump’s election followed a heated campaign rife with anti-establishment and protectionist themes.

Le Pen, head of the far-right National Front, is among the top contenders in France’s presidential vote.

She denounced the 28-nation European Union as “a force of sterilization,” and assailed Germany’s Angela Merkel — whose name was booed loudly — for allowing in large numbers of migrants. “Everyone sees that this migration policy is a daily disaster,” Le Pen said.