Potential far-right victory in France seen as threat to EU

By SYLVIE CORBET, SAMUEL PETREQUIN and RAF CASERT
The Associated Press

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — A win for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in France’s presidential race would have immense repercussions on the functioning of the European Union. Experts say her coming to power would damage the democratic values and commercial rules of the 27-nation bloc and would threaten the EU’s common front and sanctions that have been built in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron, the incumbent president with strong pro-European views, and Le Pen, an anti-immigration nationalist, are facing each other in the presidential runoff on April 24.  All polls show Macron is the favorite in the vote, but Le Pen has significantly narrowed the gap compared with the last presidential election five years ago.