EU Parliament Right-Wing Group Echoes Le Pen on EU Anti-Russia Stance

The European Parliament’s right-wing political group Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) opposes EU anti-Russia policy, as Russia is a partner with experience in fighting terrorism, Vice-Chair of ENF from France Edouard Ferrand told Sputnik, echoing the sentiment of French far-right presidential candidate and National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Friday, during her visit to Moscow at the invitation of the Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, Le Pen said she favored Russia's proper participation in the fight against terrorism.

"We don't want EU to bring us towards a massive collapse against Russia. For us Russia is a privileged partner… In Syria and also in many [other] places [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin perfectly understands what is the best way to fight Islamic terrorism. For us a coalition with Russia in this way is absolutely necessary," Ferrand said.

Ferrand also said the group supported an alliance between Russia, the United States and EU countries to fight terrorism.

"We support globally what we call the ‘Big Alliance.’ The Big Alliance between Russia, European countries and the United States. To fight radical Islamism. To defend our common civilization," he said.

An Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll published earlier on Tuesday showed that Le Pen maintained a leading position in the first round of the French presidential election with projected 25 percent of the votes. Independent presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron is expected to receive 24 percent of the votes in the first round, while The Republicans' candidate Francois Fillon is set to get 18 percent of the votes, according to the poll. Macron is projected to win the run-off against Le Pen with 62 percent of the votes.

The first round of the presidential election in France is scheduled for April 23. The run-off is expected to take place on May 7.