The National Rally candidate for the Elysee Marine Le Pen on Friday accused the EU of having "weakened" France on fishing during the Brexit negotiations, while calling on the government "not to give in to the British" .
"We sacrificed fishing for the unprecedented war that the Commission waged against Great Britain which had decided to leave the EU," said the presidential candidate on Cnews, questioned on the tensions between Paris and London on post-Brexit fishing licenses granted to European fishermen.
Read also Post-Brexit fishing: why the French and the British are arguing
“All this has created hostility between the EU and Great Britain of which we are today, France, the victim.
It is the fault of these people who, by the way, said to themselves
the French fishery we do not care,
”she added, citing by name Michel Barnier, candidate for the nomination of the right who had led the Brexit negotiations.
"We must defend the fishermen at all costs"
"When a nation does not defend its interests, no one else is going to defend them for it," she stressed.
“We must not give in to the British.
We must defend fishermen at all costs, but let this serve as a lesson: it is the nation that protects, it is the EU that weakens ”.
London announced Thursday that it wanted to summon the French ambassador in response to threats of retaliation from Paris, which accuses the United Kingdom of granting too few fishing licenses.