A Political Earthquake Hits France: Is A European Union Referendum Next?

I will negotiate over the points on which there can be no compromise. If the result is inadequate, I will call for withdrawal. Europe is just a great bluff. On one side there is the immense power of sovereign peoples, and on the other side are a few technocrats.

- Front National Leader Marine Le Pen

I haven’t been paying as much attention to Europe as I was a few years ago. After all, monitoring the oligarch theft, shit-show in my own backyard is a full time job. Even back when I was watching the Continent more closely, I never paid particular attention to the happenings in France. That needs to change.

Ambrose-Evans Pritchard of the UK’s Telegraph has written an excellent article detailing the extraordinary success of Marine Le Pen’s Front National in recent elections. What was once seen as a fringe right-wing party is now collecting a surprising amount of votes from socialists attracted to the anti-bank/anti-euro platform. With all the talk of Greece, Italy and Spain over the past several years, wouldn’t it be ironic if France was the one country that ended it all…

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