Why Marine Le Pen's continental programme can turn the European Union upside down

There are only 6 days left until the second round that will be defined by the future president of France, a position disputed by Marine Le Pen and who currently holds it, Emmanuel Macron.

The arrival of Le Pen at the Elysee, taking into account France's cardinal role in the construction of Europe, would require a radical review of the functioning and policies of the European Union if its programme were to be implemented.

CONCILIATOR WITH PUTIN

The leader of the French far right has until a few months ago expressed an ideological proximity to Vladimir Putin who exploded electorally in 2017 and that she intended to do again in these elections.

With the outbreak of war in Ukraine, it has unmitigated the Russian invasion and denounced “war crimes”. But he insists that once the conflict is over, NATO would have to re-establish its relationship with Moscow to prevent it from associating itself with China, which it claims to be its great fear.

THE PRIMACY OF FRENCH LAW

Le Pen believes that the best way not to have to submit to the EU rules that it does not like is to impose the primacy of French law over European and international law.

An idea that is already confronting the nationalist government of Poland with Brussels and which, if carried out in a key EU country such as France, would dismantle the functioning of the European bloc, with measures that are imposed on everyone and guarantee, for example, the functioning of the single market.

VOLUNTARY COOPERATION IN A EUROPE OF NATIONS

Instead, Le Pen proposes “a European alliance of nations” open to voluntary cooperation and gives as an example what was done with Airbus on airliners or with Arianespace on space rockets, projects involving only a few countries.

Since its failed electoral experience in 2017, also against Emmanuel Macron, Le Pen has abandoned its idea of removing France from the euro, which generated so many fears and weighed it down electorally. But it continues to defend barriers within the single market because it intends to arrogate itself the right to control goods entering France from other European countries under the guise of the fight against fraud.

END OF WEAPONS PROGRAMS SUCH AS THE FUTURE EUROPEAN FIGHTER

Its defence policy envisages, in order to guarantee the stature of France as a power, to withdraw from the integrated command of NATO, a “dialogue with Russia on the great common issues”, and at the same time to break with Germany - which it issues many reproaches - for “structural cooperation” in armaments.

This applies in particular to a bilateral programme for battle tanks and that of the future fighter aircraft system (SCAF) in which Spain also participates. Its priority is to strengthen French arms exports, which would be one of the pillars of its diplomacy.

RENATIONALIZE BORDER CONTROL

Marine Le Pen promises to restore surveillance and systematic control at its borders, which in practice means the end of free movement in the Schengen area, which in recent years has been partly limited in the name of the fight against terrorism, against irregular immigration or covid.

To that end, it would renegotiate the Schengen agreements to establish a simplified procedure for crossing internal borders that would be limited to EU citizens, not the rest.

His policy to end what he calls “mass immigration” would also undermine the principle of free movement, not to mention the fact that asylum claims could only be made from outside French territory.

QUESTIONS AGRICULTURAL POLICY AND TRADE AGREEMENTS

Le Pen rants against the drift that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has taken under the EU Green Deal, because the new environmental rules in its opinion will increase food imports from third countries. Its intention is to supplement European aid with other French ones in support of sectors in difficulty in encouraging production, which may lead to distortions.

In the name of food sovereignty, it intends to exclude agricultural products from EU trade agreements with other countries or regional blocs and suspend negotiations under negotiation with Mercosur, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to refusing to ratify what is already being negotiated concluded with Canada.

Along the same lines, it wants to prevent the import of food whose production does not comply with the sanitary or environmental rules that European farmers have to comply with, but also impose the identification of the country of origin of all products.

(with information from EFE)

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