A hundred years ago, France was one of major world powers. Today, this is a country, to which one can dictate their conditions, on how, for instance, to build relations with Russia. The French can not agree with it - they vote for Marine Le Pen. The leader of the National Front (NF) supports the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, but her reputation in Europe is the one of a "fascist."
Today, Europe is ruled by Angela Merkel and the man in charge of the euro printing press - ECB President Mario Draghi. They turned national governments into the "puppets manipulated by the ECB, acting on the basis of a strange mixture of ideological dogmatism and interests of creditors," Spanish sociologist Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca said. It is unlikely that the role of Merkel and Draghi would become different, the analyst said. In Europe, though, there are real forces that do not like the transformation of their countries into the Fourth Reich. One of such countries is France, where the population lives to see centrist governments - right and left ones - replacing each other, but nothing changes in their life.
Against this background, the right party National Front chaired by Marine Le Pen won the elections to the European Parliament, having gained 25 percent of the vote which was twice the vote of the ruling Socialist Party. Today, Le Pen attracts a lot of media attention in the world, because she speaks for millions of French and could only care less about the rules of tolerance and political correctness. In a Sunday interview with Der Spiegel, Marine Le Pen dared to warn German Chancellor Angela Merkel that her short-sighted policy could lead to an explosion in the European Union, which Le Pen calls "the European Soviet Union."
The policy of the chancellor is "positive for Germany, but, unfortunately, it causes damage to other countries," said Marine Le Pen. "I am warning you: be careful, Mrs. Merkel. If you do not notice the suffering of the peoples of Europe, soon they will hate Germany." "The EU is a natural disaster, an anti-democratic monster. It is in a state of economic war, and hostilities between the countries grow." From the point of view of Marine Le Pen, the introduction of the joint European currency put an end to the sovereignty of countries. "Germany is the economic heart of the EU, but Germany must never forget that France remains its political heart," said the politician. Obviously, there is a warning message that the collapse of the EU, from within, so to speak, may come from France.
In the same interview, Marine Le Pen accused the United States and the European Union of being involved in the crisis and bloodshed in Ukraine. The EU, on American orders, paint Russia in very unpleasant colors. "I stand for the immediate federalization of Ukraine. The European Union added its own fuel to the fire, when it decided to offer closer economic partnership to the state, where about a half of the population still looks to the East." The leader of the National Front noted that "European politicians need to realize that the United States primarily pursues its own interests in Europe to expand its own presence in the world."
"Putin was right when, in his speech on the accession of the Crimean peninsula, he said that the land, in terms of culture and history, was closer to Russia. He was right when he called the Russians and the Ukrainians brothers. The history of Ukraine and Russia is closely intertwined, but Kiev is closer to Western Europe," summarized the NF leader.
Western analysts were puzzled by Marine's arrogance, they even began to analyze the prospect of her victory at the next presidential election in France. The forecasts are not in her favor yet, but the key word here is "yet."
Le Pen said that she would try to form a eurosceptic faction at the European Parliament. It will be a faction once it collects parties from seven different countries. They can be the British UKIP of Nigel Farage, right-wing parties from the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland and Hungary. Center-left parties can join the bloc too, for example, the German party Alternative for Germany (AFD), which sensationally won seven percent of the German electorate.
Frightened by the prospect of losing control, European bureaucrats launched persecution against Marine Le Pen. Last week, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the National Front a fascist party. The West accuses Le Pen of anti-Semitism and racial hatred for her remarks about Muslims. The invasion of Muslims in France reminds her of the Nazi occupation of Germany, she said.
Noteworthy, France does not have Muslim historical roots, and the country must somehow defend itself against the loss of Christian cultural values. This sentiment is strong among the youth. According to a survey by Ipsos-Steria, not less than 30 percent of voters under the age of 35 supported the NF in the European vote; 37 unemployed individuals voted for the NF; the percentage among workers was 45.
Criticism comes not only on the line of the renunciation of European values, but also on the line of support to "Putin's corrupt regime." Farage of the UK joined Le Pen in calling Putin one of the world leaders, whom he "admires most." "They (Marin and Farage) try to impose something on Europe, from which Ukraine is trying to escape," wrote, for example, Anne Applebaum. Namely, it goes about corruption, media manipulation, ignoring boundaries and order. "Those, who do not have democracy, stability and European values, they want them desperately. And those, who do not appreciate them and perhaps are unable to assess them, they start to reach out to arsenic. The question is whether the rest can prevent them from swallowing a deadly dose," concludes the author.
The elections to the European Parliament are a court of higher instance. "The whole of Europe is taking a step to the right in connection with two events - the economic crisis and changes in the ethnic composition, - Nikolai Mezhevich, Professor at the Faculty of International Relations of the St. Petersburg State University told Pravda.Ru. - The right become ultra, centrist forces - center-right, leftist - center-left and so on, because the European project is not experiencing its best times from an economic point of view and from the point of view of the changing ethnic composition."
France is rapidly losing its ethnic solidity, which creates grounds for the popularity of ultra-right movements to grow. The same happens in other countries. The victory of the National Front is a third call to European political elites. They should adjust their policies, the expert said.
According to him, "ascribing Marine Le Pen to fascists is an exaggeration and distortion." Extreme right forces are political realists in Europe. Le Pen supports Putin because she makes French national interests her first priority, just like Putin makes Russian national interests his first priority. "They are not some abstract postmodern trends of global peace, prosperity and disarmament. Le Pen also reasonably believes that the strong France must have strong friends, among which there was the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union in the 20th century," said the expert.
"The National Front of Marine Le Pen is neither a fascist, nor a far-right party. This is just a right party," historian and publicist Andrei Fursov told Pravda.Ru. "In today's world, it is rather left-wing socialists that could be referred to as Nazis - they became velvet supporters of the genocide of humanity, working for transnational corporations. Those, who are referred to as rightist forces, are realists. They do not want Europe to lay down under the United States or the EU bureaucrats. Marine Le Pen and others of rightist beliefs express the point of view of those who are fed up with the artificial creation of the European Union. Moreover, Le Pen clearly points at those, who can be her ally against the backdrop of weakening Europe. Russia needs this support, and the number of such leaders will grow as the Europeans continue to show more and more indignation about the American course," Fursov said.
Lyuba Lulko
Pravda.Ru