France's Le Pen Attacks Macron With Sights on European Elections

(Bloomberg) -- French nationalist politician Marine Le Pen railed against President Emmanuel Macron, Brussels and migrant policies in a speech on Sunday as she seeks to build support ahead of May’s European parliamentary elections.

Bolstered by a poll last week showing her National Rally party was almost neck and neck with Macron’s Republic On The Move in terms of voting intentions, Le Pen said the European Union was “seriously harming” Europe and that the elections could “change everything.”

Greeting representatives of Heinz-Christian Strache’s Austrian nationalist Freedom Party and Matteo Salvini’s Italian anti-immigration League party in the audience, Le Pen said: “We are parties that will fight tooth and nail to defend our nations and our civilization.”

Macron has sought to create a pan-European group of progressive politics and positioned himself as the main opponent to nationalist leaders such as Salvini and Hungary’s Viktor Orban, censured by the European parliament last week.

The parliament that results from next year’s elections, pitting nationalists against the liberal establishment parties, will have a key role in approving the new European Commission, the EU’s executive, and thus shaping the future direction of Europe.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Regan in Paris at jregan65@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Geraldine Amiel at gamiel@bloomberg.net, Marthe Fourcade, Steve Geimann

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