Explained: Who is Marine Le Pen And What Her Party Wants In France

Marine Le Pen is a French politician who is currently one of two candidates in the second-round of the 2022 French presidential election. With degrees in criminal law, Le Pen joined her father¡¯s National Front party in 1998. She was formerly regional councilor and a European Parliament member. In 2003, she was elected vice president of the party, and eight years later, she succeeded her father as the National Front's leader.

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In 2012, she ran for President and finished in third place. While the party's opposition to same-sex marriage, unconditional abortions, and support for the death penalty has been revoked, Le Pen still supports many of the party's historical principles, with a concentration on strong anti-immigrationists and protectionists.

Le Pen¡¯s foreign policy

She has already stated that the goal of French foreign policy should be to safeguard a country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, even if this necessitates the construction of new trade barriers and physical frontiers. So the traditional nation-state discourse, very particular about the idea of borders and boundaries reappears in a world that was integrated by a cooperative framework. Moreover, she also wants to craft an autonomous foreign policy.

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She wants to replace the EU with a new, looser alliance of "free and sovereign nations." Within this alliance, each member could choose what rules to apply, including when it comes to the application of the rule of law. She wants to uphold the power of French law over the law of European Union. She would therefore abandon any notion of ¡®European sovereignty¡¯ and put a halt to any further enlargement.

Le Pen¡¯s economic orientations

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As regards economic policy, she supports economic nationalism rather than the free market. Economic nationalism is ¡°an ideology that favors state interventionism over the market mechanism¡± whereas a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by buyers and sellers negotiating in the open market without any coercions of the state. On economic nationalism, the state protects indigenous workforce and industries.

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For she said on an occasion ¡°From the moment I implement intelligent protectionism that will fight against unfair international competition, it will turn the economy around.¡± And it was for this very reason- intelligent protectionism and unfair international competition- that she was opposed to globalization. She famously said ¡°globalization is anarchic.¡± She is implying that only state can champion the rights of the workers.

Views on Security and Economic architecture: NATO and EU

Who is Marine Le Pen | AFP

Scholars think that if Le Pen wins, EU integration will be slowed because she regards integration a threat to sovereignty. The EU's unity, cohesion, and international stature would be weakened if Le Pen were to win. She might use her veto power to block any new sanctions against Russia, as well as any military aid to Ukraine. It's difficult to see how the EU could implement these measures without collapsing.

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A Frexit, unlike Brexit, would be a delayed and chaotic exit. ¡°Neither an integrated NATO command nor a future European command would be appropriate for our troops," she said.

References

Gupta, S. (2022, April 15). Who is Marine Le Pen? The Indian Express. Retrieved April 22, 2022.

Le Guernigou, Y., Felix, B., & Lough, R. (2017, April 13). France's Le Pen says protectionism can spur GDP growth to 2.5 percent by 2021. Reuters. Retrieved April 22, 2022.

Mounk, Y. (2022, April 21). Why Marine Le Pen Is So Close to Power. The Atlantic. Retrieved April 22, 2022.

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