French far-right leader Marine Le Pen vowed on Sunday to wrest back powers from an “intrusive and authoritarian” bureaucracy in Brussels as she kicked off her party’s European election campaign as clear frontrunner in polls.
At a rally attended by about 8,000 activists in Marseille, Le Pen shared the spotlight with her 28-year old protégé Jordan Bardella, a popular figure who heads her Rassemblement National (RN) party and will lead its list for the June vote.
“I call on the French people to transform their indignation into action,” Le Pen said, hitting out at EU curbs on combustion engine cars and other environmental rules. “Nations must take back the power that the EU has confiscated from them.”