Le Pen: EU signed ‘deal with devil' to wipe out European culture

Telegraph

2 days ago

The EU has signed 'a deal with the devil to flood Europe with migrants, dilute the population and wipe out European culture', Marine Le Pen said on Monday.
Addressing a gathering of European nationalists outside Paris, she claimed Brussels's migration and asylum pact stripped 'states of their most sacred right, that of deciding who enters and who remains on their soil'.
Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, was also among the speakers at the event, which was held to mark the first anniversary of Ms Le Pen's National Rally (RN) coming first in European Parliament elections.
Taking the stage, Mr Orban, who dubbed himself 'Brussels's nightmare', likened EU migration policy to 'an organised exchange of populations to replace the cultural base' of the continent.
He boasted of having been able to 'push back migrants' in Hungary, even if it meant incurring sanctions from Brussels.
'We will not let them destroy our cities, rape our girls and women, kill peaceful citizens,' he told the several thousand present.
Ms Le Pen said a 'woke and ultra-liberal' European Union was a 'graveyard of politically unfulfilled promises'.
Power 'back to the people'
'We don't want to leave the table. We want to finish the game and win, to take power in France and in Europe and give it back to the people,' she told the crowd.
The meeting saw leaders from Patriots of Europe, a Right-wing European parliamentary group, convene in the tiny village of Mormant-sur-Vernisson.
Out of the hamlet's 144 residents, some 90 per cent backed the RN candidate for parliament in the second round of last year's legislative elections.
The attendees included Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and leader of the League party; Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain's Vox party, and Andrej Babis, the former Czech prime minister.
Ms Le Pen also attacked Mr Macron over apparent security failings after Paris Saint-Germain's win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Munich last month.
Two people died and hundreds were arrested across France, including 491 in Paris, as fans celebrated the victory.
'Barbarian hordes can ransack the capital of France with complete impunity from the media and the courts,' she said.
'Who can seriously believe that Emmanuel Macron's France could wage a large-scale war when it is already incapable of managing the chaos that reigns on match nights 200 metres from the Élysée Palace?' she added, referring to the president's tough talk on threats from Russia.
Ms Le Pen, who leads RN in the French parliament, hopes to succeed Mr Macron as president when his second five-year term ends in 2027.
Her ambitions were, however, dealt a major blow in March when she was banned from standing for public office for five years after being found guilty of embezzling EU funds to pay party staff.
Ms Le Pen is appealing the verdict, but RN's likely 'plan B' candidate if she cannot run is the party's president, Jordan Bardella.
He was also present at the event and said: 'We reject the Europe of Ursula von der Leyen... We reject the Europe of Macron... We represent the rebirth of a true Europe.'
Mr Orban promised, as he did when Donald Trump was elected for a second term, to pop the champagne corks should either Ms Le Pen or Mr Bardella clinch the French presidency.
'Without you, we will not be able to occupy Brussels (...) We will not be able to save Hungary from the Brussels guillotine,' he said.
EU pact on migration
The EU's migration pact, which took the brunt of criticism at the RN event, was approved in 2024 and aims to create a common asylum policy at EU level. Critics have said its provisions undermine national sovereignty and are not strong enough to deter illegal migration.
The nationalist gathering sparked uproar among the Left and unions, with some 4,000 people staging a protest in the nearby town of Montargis, according to organisers. They vowed to 'build resistance' and proclaimed the nationalist leaders were 'not welcome'.
'You have here the worst of the racist and xenophobic European far Right that we know only too well,' said French hard-Left MEP Manon Aubry.
RN remains hugely popular and the latest polling suggests it would win more seats in parliament than it currently has if snap elections were held now. Ms Le Pen's electoral ban has, however, reportedly hit morale among its MPs.