Marine Le Pen to abandon ‘Frexit’ plans following disastrous election defeat

‘We have taken note of what the French people told us’

Ms Le Pen returned to the role of leader of Front National last week, after stepping down in the lead up to the election (Getty)

Marine Le Pen is expected to abandon her campaign for France to leave the European Union and bring back the franc, following her failed presidential bid against Emmanuel Macron.

While the new President Macron announced he would be hosting Russia's Vladimir Putin at the palace of Versailles and prepared for a crucial meeting with business leaders on Tuesday, Front National (FN) party officials continued to unpick a defeat at the ballot box that was even heavier than polls predicted.

Both leaving the European Union and the euro were key policies set out by Ms Le Pen, despite a poll conducted just months ahead of the election showing that 72 per cent of French voters were against abandoning the euro.

And with parliamentary elections coming next month, in which those parties which lost the presidential vote have a chance to wrest back some control in the national assembly, FN is changing tack on a key tenet of its political outlook.

“There will be no Frexit,” Front National’s chief economic strategist Bernard Monot admitted in an interview with The Telegraph.

“I continue to think that the euro is not technically viable but it makes no sense for us to keep insisting stubbornly. From now on our policy will be to renegotiate the EU treaties to give us more control over our budget and banking regulations.”

Ms Le Pen returned to the role of leader of FN last week, after stepping down as the head of the party in the lead up to the election, which she lost after taking only 33.9 per cent of the vote against Mr Macron’s 66.1 per cent win.

Since taking up the presidency, Mr Macron has named a cabinet split equally along gender lines, and including members from across France's political spectrum. He made his first foreign trip to Berlin, Germany, and has vowed to work closely with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to create a “common roadmap” for Europe, saying that changing EU treaties is “no longer a taboo”.

Mr Macron will receive Mr Putin outside Paris on 29 May to inaugurate an exhibition marking 300 years of Franco-Russian diplomatic ties, a French presidency official said on Monday. Relations between Paris and Moscow were increasingly strained under former President François Hollande, with Mr Putin cancelling his last planned visit in October after Mr Hollande said he would see him only for talks on Syria. Mr Putin and Mr Macron agreed in their first phone call last week to continue discussions on Ukraine and Syria despite their conflicting views.

On Tuesday, the French President will face a big early test when he meets unions and employers to talk over labour reforms he has pledged to push through quickly despite deep opposition on the left.

He is expected to meet leaders of the communist-backed CGT, the CFDT and a third union, as well as talking with Pierre Gattaz, head of the Medef employers' body. But he will face stern opposition to any measures that are seen as cutting into France's staunchly defended workers' rights. "If the government wants to force its reforms through or doesn't take into account our proposals, there will be anger and also mobilisation," the CGT's head, Philippe Martinez, warned on Monday.

Additional reporting on agencies