MARINE LE PEN, leader of the French far-Right party Front National, has proposed joining forces with Ukip to bring down the EU's "Berlin wall of Brussels".
Speaking from her Paris headquarters, Le Pen said Ukip has far more in common with the Front National than it would like to admit.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He added: "As a strictly non-racist and libertarian party, Ukip will be ploughing our own furrow in Europe with parties with which we are happy to do business and make a stand against the EU's political union."
Le Pen, who has joined forces with Dutch anti-Islamic leader Geert Wilders, believes Ukip is avoiding an alliance due to "electoral considerations" and might reconsider in the future.
"They say they're not in agreement with us. My foot," she told the Daily Telegraph. "OK, we don't have the same economic policies [but] they share our point of view on the European Union and immigration: everyone must control his borders, European technocrats must disappear, the European Soviet Union must collapse, everyone must have their own currency, their economic policy and decide in their own home."
Front National could emerge as the leading party in France's European elections with the backing of 24 per cent of voters, according to one poll by research firm Ifop.
It is just one of several anti-immigration and anti-EU parties gaining ground in Europe, where many have lost faith in the ability of the European Union to help kick-start their faltering economies, says the Telegraph.
"How to improve the European Union?" asks Le Pen. "By making it collapse. We brought the Berlin Wall down. I want to bring the Brussels wall down. I expect one thing only from the European system and that's for it to explode."
-
The world’s oldest rock art reveals hints about human migrationUnder the Radar The art is believed to be over 67,000 years old
-
Dive right into these 8 underwater adventuresThe Week Recommends It’s time to make a splash
-
Grok in the crosshairs as EU launches deepfake porn probeIN THE SPOTLIGHT The European Union has officially begun investigating Elon Musk’s proprietary AI, as regulators zero in on Grok’s porn problem and its impact continent-wide
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
