France's Le Pen says Europe must 'wake up'; Brexit domino effect on EU

French far-right National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen urged European voters to follow the example of the Americans and British and "wake up" in 2017 at a meeting of far-right leaders in Germany.

Le Pen told a hall packed with supporters in the German city of Koblenz that Britons' vote last year to leave the European Union would set in train a "domino effect".

"2016 was the year the Anglo-Saxon world woke up. I am sure 2017 will be the year the people of continental Europe wake up," she said to loud applause on Saturday.

Le Pen, head of the anti-EU, anti-immigrant National Front (FN), has reason to be confident about her eurosceptic vision. She has edged ahead of conservative rival and former frontrunner François Fillon of Les Républicains party for the French presidential election, a major poll on Thursday showed.

According to French daily newspaper Le Monde, Le Pen now commands between 25 and 26 percent support among likely voters compared to 23-25 percent for Fillon, who held a three-point lead over Le Pen in December with 28 percent support.
  [france24.com/Reuters]
21/1/17