The president of the French far right party Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, congratulated the UK on “regaining its freedom” on Saturday.
She labelled Brexit a “terrifying failure for the EU,” which she said had to “transform itself into a European alliance of nations.”
The Rassemblement National (RN), the successor to the Front National, no longer wants France to leave the EU, but wants to change the EU from the inside.
“After multiple twist and turns, the UK has finally regained its freedom. But this is a terrifying failure for the EU,” the president of the RN said during a press conference in Lille. “I also think this event is not generating a great deal of comments considering a founding EU country just walked out. That’s not exactly insignificant.”
France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg laid the foundations for the EU in 1957. The UK didn’t join until 1 January 1973.
“We will no doubt see, over the coming months and years, that the UK did the right thing and will probably benefit a great deal,” the politician said. “In fact, I have already noticed that the disaster-mongering has already giving way to cautious warnings from those who were sure the British people would be ruined, there would be massive unemployment...,” she claimed.
There will be no immediate big changes because of Brexit, only that the UK will no longer sit on the European institutions. It will nonetheless continue to follow their rules until the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020.
Despite British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s calls for reconciliation, the divorce from the EU has not ended the antagonism in the country.
The UK has always been divided over membership of the EU, even before it joined in 1973. There will be a candlelit vigil to mourn the separation in Edinburgh, accompanied by a dream of one day re-joining the EU as an independent Scotland.
A new chapter in British history will be written during the negotiations over the UK and the 27 EU member states’ relationship with regards to trade, security and fishing. These negotiations are expected to be extremely complex.
The Brussels Times
