Since taking over from her father as FN leader, Jean-Marie, in 2011, Marine Le Pen has reworked the image of the FN to make it more mainstream.
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The European parliament has called a special session for next Tuesday to assess the vote, while foreign ministers of the six founding nations of the EU – Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg, will meet in Berlin on Saturday.
France’s far right National Front party also called for a French referendum on European Union membership, cheering a Brexit vote it hopes can boost its eurosceptic agenda.
Just after 6 a.m. London time, with most votes in, the BBC said there was no way back for the pro-EU side, with voters having favored “Leave” by 52 percent to 48 percent. The decision has shocked global markets and sent the pound plummeting to the lowest level in 31 years.
“A vote for the [PVV] is a vote for a referendum on a Dutch Nexit”, he said.
Fears of a domino effect, or “contagion” as the French call it, have taken on new meaning, with the possibility of other restive member states consulting their electorates on the wisdom of continued membership, experts said.
“The unthinkable has happened: the Brits want to leave the European Union”, said Germany’s Der Spiegel under the headline “The Big Bang”.
But Mr Tusk said this was “not a moment for hysterical reactions”.
Spanish media also pointed to results in British-run Gibraltar, which borders Spain, noting that its residents voted, nearly unanimously, to stay in the EU. “(Its departure) would be catastrophic for the European Union”.
“I imagine the prime minister will double down on support for the European Union straightaway, not least to reduce the threat from populists”, a senior Danish government official told the Financial Times.
Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka said: “Despite the disappointment many of us feel… we must realise that this is not the end of the world and it’s absolutely not the end of the European Union”. “Also in the Netherlands”, Wilders said.
Hoisting French and British flags in one hand while sitting at a cafe table, she posed in photographs published by party vice president Florian Philippot on the night of the British referendum.
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“All this needs to continue because it is in our interests”, said the source, “We want to be sure that after this vote there won’t be a strategic withdrawal by the United Kingdom, that it will continue to be a player on the global scene”. David Cameron has his responsibilities for his country, we have our responsibilities for the future of the EU.
