France’s Marine Le Pen hails Brexit, urges ‘Frexit’ vote

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian published a column on Wednesday in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in which he urged Britons to vote to remain in the EU.

It is true that at some point European Union leaders may need to tackle particular problems, like the euro or refugees, by giving specific new powers to European Union institutions.

Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, one of the most extreme movements in Europe, applauded “the courageous decision of the British people”.

Meanwhile, France’s far right National Front party called for a French referendum on European Union membership, cheering a Brexit vote, hoping it can boost its eurosceptic agenda at home. “He has said nothing on the subject of Europe”, said Francois Bayrou, the head of the centrist party MoDem.

Voters in the United Kingdom surprised the world when they voted by a almost 5-point margin to abandon the European alliance on Thursday.

Ratings agency Moody’s downgraded its outlook for Britain, saying its creditworthiness was now at greater risk.

“It will be the Dutch peoples turn, then the Swedes turn, then next year it will be the French”, explained Matteo Salvini. Such an outcome, of course, would ensure that union with the United Kingdom would be replaced by permanent membership in the EU, but a majority of Scots – once the most ruggedly independent people in Europe – appear to favor such an outcome.

“We’re completely in uncharted territory”, said Hans Kundnani, a Berlin-based expert in European politics at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The European Central Bank, Europe’s equivalent to the Federal Reserve, is pumping hundreds of billions of euros into the economy to get things moving.

“The early morning news from Great Britain is truly sobering”.

“If tomorrow Britain is not part of the single market, the City can not keep this European passport, and clearing houses can not be located in London either”, he told France Inter radio.

A key element in the “Eurocrats'” scheme was to rid European countries of their national currencies and replace them with the euro, a new worldwide currency to be produced by a European central bank.

“In today’s world, you’re stronger together than out on your own”, he says. There was no reason the European Union could not conclude free trade agreements with the UK.

Many European nationalist parties, however, are broadly cheering on a British departure. The magazine said the outcome left Britain a sharply divided country, with pro-Remain voters London, Scotland and Northern Ireland outnumbered by Leave supporters in the north and Wales who had acted defiance of warnings of “disastrous” economic consequences in the event of withdrawal. But Scotland voted 62 to 38 percent to stay in the European Union on Thursday, raising the possibility that it would be forced out of the European Union against its will. There have been whisperings about “Frexit”, and whether there is enough of an appetite in the country to withdraw from the EU. The petition will have to be discussed by lawmakers but has no legal force.

The governments of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries in the continent face new challenges as they face a realignment of diplomatic and trade relations in the new political landscape.