Frexit (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordswithdrawal from the European Union Withdrawal from the European Union is the legal and political process whereby an EU member state ceases to be a member of the Union. Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union ( TEU) states that "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from t ...

(EU). The term is similar to ''

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

'', 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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

to have a 61% unfavourable view of the EU, second only to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

's 71%, with the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on 48%. 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. The figure in favour of remaining increased to 60% in a subsequent poll in 2019. The

United Kingdom European Union membership referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

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 The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: ...

Leader Marine Le Pen promised a French referendum on EU membership if she were to win the presidential election. Former President François Hollande met with politicians including Le Pen in the aftermath of the vote and rejected her proposal for a referendum. Fellow 2017 candidate

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (; born 7 March 1961), sometimes referred to by his initials NDA, is a French politician serving since 2008 as President of minor party Debout la France. He is its only member of the National Assembly, elected for Essonne' ...

Debout la France Debout la France (, ; DLF) is a French political party founded by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan in 1999 under the name Debout la République (''Republic Arise'', DLR) as the "genuine Gaullist" branch of the Rally for the Republic (RPR). It was relaunche ...

also advocated for a referendum. François Asselineau's Popular Republican Union instead advocate a unilateral withdrawal of the EU using article 50 of the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member s ...

. 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

referendum in June 2016. In a January 2018 interview with the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

Emmanuel Macron agreed with

Andrew Marr Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Beginning his career as a political commentator, he subsequently edited '' The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to 1998 and was political editor of BBC ...

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. In August 2019, ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' editorial director

Sylvie Kauffmann Sylvie Kauffmann (born 30 October 1955) is a French journalist for Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the newspaper ''Le Monde''. She worked for AFP in France in 1979 and as a foreign correspondent from 1980 to 1988. Kauffmann joined ''Le Monde'' as ...

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. Frexit à Londres

In 2022 French Presidential candidate

Éric Zemmour Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (; born 31 August 1958) is a French far-right politician, essayist, writer and former political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist on ''Face à l'Info'', a daily show broadcast on CNews, from 2019 to ...

said Frexit would not happen because, "France is not England ic For one thing England has won all its wars for the past two centuries and we have lost all of ours. That means that we don't have as much confidence in ourselves."

Surveys

In January 2019, pollster Institut français d'opinion publique conducted a survey on several questions that might be asked were the

Citizens' initiative referendum The Référendum d'initiative Citoyenne (abbreviated RIC) is the name given to the proposal for a constitutional amendment in France to permit consultation of the citizenry by referendum concerning the proposition or abrogation of laws, the revoca ...

to be applied in France. One of these questions is about the exit of France from the EU. The result was that 60% opposed it.LES FRANÇAIS ET LE RÉFÉRENDUM D'INITIATIVE CITOYENNE
/ref>

References

{{Withdrawal from the European Union Proposals in France France and the European Union Withdrawal from the European Union Euroscepticism in France Portmanteaus Public policy proposals

Surveys

See also

References