'The euro will be a paragraph in history' says nationalist Marine Le Pen as she soars in polls with promise to quit single currency

French National Front leader Marine Le Pen is soaring in the polls in the country's Presidential quest with pledges to ditch the euro and deport all illegal immigrants.



The 43-year-old is capitalising on President Nicolas Sarkozy's falling popularity ratings following the news that France has been stripped of its prized AAA credit rating by Standard and Poor.

Sarkozy lost two points in the polls, down to just 23 per cent, since the credit rating was downgraded last week.

Head to head: National Front leader Marine Le Pen claims she has closed the gap in the polls with French President Nicolas Sarkozy



Le Pen's standing went up by one per cent after she vowed to raise the wages of the poorest workers by £160 a month and pay for it by slapping a three per cent tax on imported goods.

Ignoring claims that her policies would risk inflation she pledged to restore the nation's sovereignty by printing more currency, up to 80 billion pounds a year, and return the country to the French franc 'as soon as possible.'

She said recently: 'The euro will be a paragraph in history and it will

collapse in the coming months.'

And she stated: 'Under Mr Sarkozy, unemployment has exploded, national spending has reached vertiginous proportions, and his immigration policy is an economic folly.

'But taking into account the margin of error in the polls, the difference between me and him is now zero.'

Her nationalist manifesto is now gaining mounting appeal with French voters facing increasing austerity measures to tackle France's surging debt crisis.

'The loss of the triple A rating has lead to an increase in support for fringe parties. The downgrade could benefit extreme-right candidate Le Pen who has enjoyed a significant increase in popular support over the last few weeks.' Jacques Cailloux,

Economic analyst

The latest survey by pollsters Ifop showed socialist Francois Hollande would win the first round of the presidential election with 27 per cent of the vote.



If she continued to gain votes at the same rate, she would overtake Sarkozy before the presidential election in May, Ifop said.



Her father Jean-Marie Le Pen beat the socialists in the first round of the 200 presidential election, for a seond round run-off with Jacques Chirac, who finally won the election.



Another study by TNS Sofres showed that 31 per cent of French people agreed with Le Pen's ideas, up from 22 per cent a year ago.

TNS chief executive Edouard Lecerf said: 'This demonstrates the Marine Le Pen effect. The rough edges of aspects of the ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen have been smoothed out.'

Economic analyst Jacques Cailloux added: 'The loss of the triple A rating has lead to an increase in support for fringe parties.

'The downgrade could benefit extreme-right candidate Le Pen who has enjoyed a significant increase in popular support over the last few weeks.'



Le Pen now needs to garner the signatures of 500 French mayors to formally qualify as a presidential candidate. So far she has only mustered almost 300 - marginally less than at the same stage during her father's 2007 campaign.

She added: 'I cannot imagine how my electorate would react were I not able to become a candidate. The image of France in the world would be damaged.'





