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On Sunday, leader of the National Front in France, Marine Le Pen announced her bid to become president. The far-right politician believes France should exit the European Union, drop the euro, and fight radical Islam. Le Pen said she would take France out of the euro if elected.
Marine Le Pen is a viable contender in the next French elections. Le Pen is currently leading polls to win the first round of the presidential election, but is expected to lose the run-off to decide who will be president in May. France has a two-round system of voting, which means voters go into vote on April 23 and there will be a runoff election in May. The most recent IFOP poll puts Le Pen in the lead, with some 25 percent the vote in the first ballot on April 23.
Support for Le Pen has been growing but the chances of a French-style exit from the European Union could be much slimmer because of its constitutional set up and history. Regarding Le Pen's claim to exit the euro if they win the election this year, Coeure said that is not want the French want, who unambiguously think that euro is a good thing.
Leaving the euro would “threaten savings and jobs in France” and lead to a “to a rise in interest rates,” ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said in an interview with Le Parisien on Tuesday. “It would be to choose impoverishment.”
Apart from France, investors also have to factor in elections in other parts of the European Union this year. Dutch and German elections will be held in March and September. Another presidential election looms in Italy, even as former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he was willing to shelve his push for early voting.
French-German yield spread hits 4-year high on heightened political uncertainty in France. French government bond yields rose sharply and European stocks fell amid perceived risks to the already strained European political establishment.
