Far-right leader Le Pen says Trump win 'good news for France'

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday said Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election was "good news" for France.

"I repeat, the election of Donald Trump is good news for our country," said Le Pen, who will be the anti-immigration National Front's candidate in France's 2017 presidential election.

Le Pen, 48, was one of the first French politicians to react to Trump's stunning victory.

“Congratulations to the new president of the United States Donald Trump and to the free American people!” she said [see below].

In her brief remarks, Le Pen said a Trump White House would assure that the sweeping Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and EU would be rejected.

Expects improved relations with Russia

She added that "more generally, wild globalisation" would be tamed, and she predicted that international relations would improve, "notably with Russia".

Le Pen said Trump would rein in "the warlike interventions that are the source of the huge migratory waves that we are enduring".

If Trump keeps to his pledges, they will be "beneficial for France," she said.

Her father, party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, 88, who reached the second round of French presidential elections in 2002, also congratulated Trump.

“Today the United States, tomorrow France,” he tweeted.

Le Pen senior is a controversial figure for repeatedly stating his view that the Nazi gas chambers of World War II were a mere "detail" of history.

Opinion polls show Le Pen will likely to win the first round of France's presidential elections next year, but lose in the second round to whoever should be her opponent.

The National Front has been building support for its anti-immigration, anti-European Union stance in recent years under Le Pen's leadership.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

Date created : 2016-11-09