Frexit

{{Use dmy dates|date = March 2019}}

{{Short description|Hypothetical withdrawal from the EU by France}}

File:EU-France.svg

File:Affiche pour le Frexit.jpg party in favour of Frexit]]

Frexit (a portmanteau of "French" or "France" and "exit") is the hypothetical French withdrawal from the European Union (EU). The term is similar to Brexit, which denotes the UK leaving the EU. The term was mostly used during the campaign leading to the French presidential election of 2017.

A poll by the Pew Research Center in June 2016, before the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, found France to have a 61% unfavourable view of the EU, second only to Greece's 71%, with the United Kingdom on 48%.{{cite news|title=Euroscepticism on rise in Europe, poll suggests|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36471989|accessdate=28 June 2016|work=BBC News|date=6 June 2016}} However, when asked about an actual departure from the EU, 45% of French wanted to stay in the bloc while 33% expressed a desire to leave.{{cite web|title=Sondage : les Français ne veulent pas quitter l'Europe |url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2016/06/28/01002-20160628ARTFIG00305-sondage-les-francais-ne-veulent-pas-quitter-l-europe.php |accessdate=24 November 2016 |publisher=lefigaro.fr|date=29 June 2016}} The figure in favour of remaining increased to 60% in a subsequent poll in 2019.

The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum held on 23 June 2016, which resulted in 51.9% of votes being cast in favour of exiting the EU, occurred during the electoral campaign leading to the French presidential election of 2017. Following the referendum result, Front National Leader Marine Le Pen promised a French referendum on EU membership if she were to win the presidential election.{{cite news|last1=Chrisafis|first1=Angelique|title=European far right hails Brexit vote|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/24/european-far-right-hails-britains-brexit-vote-marine-le-pen|accessdate=28 June 2016|work=The Guardian|date=24 June 2016}} Former President François Hollande met with politicians including Le Pen in the aftermath of the vote and rejected her proposal for a referendum.{{cite news|last1=Thomson|first1=Adam|title=François Hollande meets Marine Le Pen to discuss Brexit fallout|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6cd15008-3ac9-11e6-8716-a4a71e8140b0.html#axzz4CqoZyOfy|accessdate=28 June 2016|work=Financial Times|date=25 June 2016}} Fellow 2017 candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan of Debout la France also advocated for a referendum.{{cite news|last1=Focraud|first1=Arnaud|title=Le Pen, Mélenchon, Dupont-Aignan… A chaque eurosceptique son 'Frexit'|trans-title=Le Pen, Mélenchon, Dupont-Aignan... To each eurosceptic their own 'Frexit'|url=http://www.lejdd.fr/Politique/Le-Pen-Melenchon-Dupont-Aignan-A-chaque-eurosceptique-son-Frexit-792219|accessdate=30 June 2016|work=Le Journal du Dimanche|date=21 June 2016|language=French}} François Asselineau's Popular Republican Union instead advocate a unilateral withdrawal of the EU using article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon.{{cite web|title=Study: Frexit chaos would be 'worse than collapse of Lehman Brothers' |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/study-frexit-chaos-would-be-worse-than-collapse-of-lehman-brothers/ |publisher=euractiv.com|date=21 March 2017}}

In an early use of the term Frexit, Le Pen said "Just call me Madame Frexit" in a Bloomberg Television interview she gave journalist Caroline Connan on 23 June 2015, one year before the Brexit referendum in June 2016.{{Cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-23/call-me-mrs-frexit-le-pen-sees-france-euro-exit-next | website=Bloomberg News | title=Marine le Pen: Just Call Me Madame Frexit | date=23 June 2015 }}

In a January 2018 interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, President of France Emmanuel Macron agreed with Andrew Marr that the French people were equally disenchanted with globalisation and if presented with a simple yes / no response to such a complex question, they would "probably" have voted for Frexit in the same circumstances.{{Cite news |title=Macron on Brexit, Frexit and Trump |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-42768466 |access-date=2024-12-13 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

In August 2019, Le Monde editorial director Sylvie Kauffmann argued that "Brexit has made Frexit impossible" and that Le Pen "no longer dared push her Frexit argument" by the time of the 2017 presidential election.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/04/how-does-the-rest-of-the-world-currently-view-the-uk-brexit-boris-johnson|title='Something resembling hell': how does the rest of the world view the UK?|work=The Observer|date=4 August 2019|accessdate=4 August 2019}}

File:Frexit à Londres.jpg) gathered at Parliament Square in London on 29 March 2019 to support Brexit]]