Barnier warns of ‘Frexit’ risk as support for Le Pen grows

MICHEL BARNIER warned yesterday that France could follow the UK out of the European Union, as polls showed growing support for the Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen.

He said there was “social unrest and anger” over immigration and Europe’s failure to defend its borders and for the “red tape and complexity” of the EU.

“We could draw some lessons from Brexit for ourselves. It’s now too late for the UK but not for us,” the former EU chief negotiator said.

“We can find, not just in the UK, but here in France, in the northern regions […] citizens who want to leave the EU,” said Mr Barnier, who has returned to domestic politics.

“It is our responsibility to understand why the British left [...] it’s important for us to listen to the anger that was expressed in the UK, and to implement the kind of changes that are necessary to better understand and reassure the European citizens that remain.”

Polling suggests that Ms Le Pen, who leads the far-right National Rally party, would beat Emmanuel Macron, who is pro-eu, by two percentage points in the first round of next year’s presidential elections. Mr Macron is predicted to win in the second round by 54 per cent to 46 per cent. Four years ago, Ms Le Pen was beaten by 66.1 per cent to 34.6 per cent.

Ms Le Pen called for “Frexit” in that election, but has stopped campaigning for France to leave the bloc. Instead, she wants to create a “Europe of nations”.

Mr Barnier hopes to rebuild support for the centre-right Républicains party before the elections. He was speaking at an event on Brexit in Northern France, where fishermen are complaining they have not got fishing licences from the UK since Brexit.

Clément Beaune, France’s Europe minister, said the EU was accused of “being weak and slow”.

He said that the bloc should take heart from its robust approach to the Brexit negotiations.

“Back in 2016, people thought that this was the beginning of the end for Europe, but we have been able to show that we can be agile, that we can react, that we can be consistent in defending our interests in a firm way to defend the greatest European assets – the single market and our political unit,” said Mr Beaune.