Reuters: Eurosceptics to block EU-US trade pact

12 May 2014

France's Marine Le Pen sees her far right National Front joining force with other Eurosceptic parties in the next European Parliament to block a major transatlantic trade pact billed by supporters as vital for global growth and jobs.

In an interview with Reuters less than two weeks before the 25 May European Parliament election, Le Pen forecast that anti-EU parties would together win enough seats to form a political group in the legislature, gaining access to increased EU funding and a greater say in the assembly's running.  She dismissed forecasts by some analysts that, even with a widely expected surge in support across the 28-nation bloc, Eurosceptics will struggle to wield influence in a parliament still set to be dominated by mainstream parties.

"There's a whole list of projects that will be postponed because the (European) Commission will realise they won't get them through the Parliament barrier," said Le Pen, who has sat in the European Union parliament for a decade. "Take the transatlantic trade deal: parts of the left are against it, the Eurosceptics are against it - it will be very tight. Will (the Commission) risk seeing a project as important as that being rejected, or will they put it on the back-burner?"

EU governments and the Obama administration launched talks last year on a deep and broad free trade and investment deal intended to help revive growth after the eurozone's debt crisis by removing burdens and customs duties on business. However, nine months into the talks, negotiators remain far apart on many issues and public hostility has grown towards the idea of unfettered transatlantic commerce that many fear would damage vulnerable national industries and so hit employment.

Opinion polls suggest Le Pen's anti-immigration FN party, which advocates withdrawing from the European Union and ditching the euro currency, will win the most votes in France for the first time in a nationwide election. Recent surveys show the FN around 22 per cent ahead of the opposition conservative UMP on 20 per cent and President Francois Hollande's Socialists on as little as 18 per cent.

Le Pen said she expected the party to increase its number of seats from three now to 15-20, positioning it to co-preside a Eurosceptic political caucus in parliament, for which a minimum of 25 members from seven states is required.

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