- Title: Buoyant Le Pen unveils campaign logo for French election
- Date: 16th November 2016
- Summary: PHOTOGRAPH OF LE PEN ON A SAILBOAT, HANGING ON WALL
- Embargoed: 1st December 2016 12:22
- Keywords: Le Pen HQ headquarters campaign president election National Front
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA00458P2GCN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen unveiled the logo for her presidential campaign and inaugurated her new headquarters on Wednesday (November 16), relishing a tide of opinion she calls "a worldwide movement" against globalisation and ultra-liberalism that could pave the way for her election.
Leader of France's National Front party, Le Pen has called her headquarters "L'Escale" ("The Stopover"), located on Rue Faubourg St. Honore, the same street as the presidential palace.
She said the blue rose of her new logo is associated with both the left and right.
"Why this blue rose? Which seems a little rebellious, in some ways. In the language of flowers, the blue flower means making the impossible possible, to reach the unreachable. This campaign, this election, this victory in the presidential election is presented by the entire political and media establishment as impossible," Le Pen told reporters, adding her campaign is finishing preparations for its official launch in February.
Before then, the National Front leader said she will be travelling and attending meetings, but her entourage is not yet in full battle mode as the primaries of the right and left have not taken place and the respective parties have not chosen a candidate.
Le Pen drew parallels with the victory of outsider Donald Trump in the U.S. elections, and the groundswell of anti-establishment sentiments around Europe.
"We have here a worldwide movement. A worldwide movement which rejects unchecked globalisation, destructive ultra-liberalism, the turning of populations against each other, the elimination of nation states, the disappearance of borders. People are turning their backs on the 'do as you want', the laissez-faire doctrine, and to the 'go wherever you want' (idea). These are all ideas we have been defending for many years," Le Pen said.
Europe's far-right politicians, from Le Pen to the Netherlands' Geert Wilders and Germany's Frauke Petry, who have criticised widespread immigration, lauded Trump's victory.
"The forces at work in these various elections are grounded deeply on the ideas of forces which could bring about my election as the president of France next May," Le Pen said.
The National Front has also revealed its strategic team, composed of around 30 people including Euro-sceptic Florian Philippot and Le Pen's conservative niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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