UK Edition
French town to get 'Brexit street' to pay 'tribute to the sovereign British people' says Front National mayor
A French town is to christen one of its streets "rue du Brexit" in a move its far-Right Front National mayor says is to "pay tribute to the sovereign British people" who chose to leave the European Union.
Critics point out that the road is in an ugly industrial zone and "goes nowhere" as it is circular.
In a highly symbolic move, Julien Sanchez, FN mayor of Beaucaire in the southern Gard département (county), chose to place Brexit street next to "rue Robert Schumann" and "rue Jean Monnet" – streets named after two of the founding fathers of a post-war European Union.
Marine Le Pen, the staunchly anti-EU leader of the Front National, has pledged to hold a referendum in France on whether to leave the bloc should she be elected president next May, calling it a "democratic necessity".
She is polled to come first in round one only to lose out to a mainstream candidate in the run-off. But the FN leader is adamant that anti-establishment anger which saw Britain vote to leave the EU and Americans elect Donald Trump as president could sweep her to power – despite polls to the contrary.
She was among the first to hail the Brexit outcome last June, calling it a "victory for freedom".
"As I have been asking for some years, we now need the same referendum in France and in (all) the countries of the EU," she said.
Mr Sanchez, 33, insisted he had received "lots of support from Britons" via social media.
"Lots of British MPs are starting to talk about it," he claimed.
He added: "I think lots of residents of Beaucaire find it justified to re-balance things. Lots of roads are named after founding fathers of Europe. Today Europe is stifling people. I think (locals) are very happy about Europeans recovering their sovereignty and would perhaps like to get theirs back too."
Apart from its symbolic value, the mayor said the 325-metre ring road in question required a name to make it easier for postal workers and emergency services to locate it.
The move received support on Mr Sanchez's Twitter account, with one commentator writing: "Excellent, and soon we'll have to add a Frexit boulevard."
But it also came in for much mockery.
"A circular road that leads nowhere – a great prospect for progress," noted Laurent, a French user.
A third wrote: "When can we expect a Le Pen impasse? There's only one way to protect our dead ends… by ousting these clowns with our votes."
And not all apparently nationalist FN supporters seemed pleased with the choice of a non-French theme and an Anglicism. "Now we're giving street names to pay tribute to foreign countries. Crazy!," wrote one.
In theory, opponents have two months to challenge the December 20 municipal decision in the courts, but Mr Sanchez insisted it was his right as mayor to name streets and that he would be inaugurating it in a month's time.