France's Le Pen wants France, Greece, Spain to ditch euro

March 20th 2011

The leader of France's far right National Front party wants France, Spain, Greece and Portugal to leave the euro because the common currency has not brought prosperity, she said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

Buoyed by opinion polls that show her making big advances ahead of next year's presidential election in France, Marine Le Pen said she represents a party of patriots who never surrendered to the European Union or the euro.

"They promised us this currency would bring growth and welfare, and what happened? People were destroyed, we are talking about a real tragedy. Look what happened to Greece," Marine Le Pen told Sunday's Kathimerini newspaper.

Le Pen took over leadership of the National Front in January from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who stunned France in 2002 by beating the Socialist Party candidate and getting through to the run-off in the presidential election won by Jacques Chirac.

Elections in France this Sunday and next to appoint some 2,000 local councillors will be the last public vote before the presidential poll. Two surveys in March suggested Sarkozy, if he runs, could be knocked out in the first round while Le Pen could go through to a runoff against a leftist candidate.

[link to www.swissinfo.ch]