EXCLUSIVE: FRANCE will be the next member state to abandon the European Union, a Brussels insider has claimed.
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Support for the bloc is declining across many of the 28-member-states with referendums and elections opening up across the continent.
Referendums have rocked the EU over the last few months with the British Brexit, the Dutch refusing an EU treaty with Ukraine and the coming votes in Italy and Hungary.
While each vote has been on a separate issue, the common consensus is voters are really using the ballot box to make clear their views on the European Union.
And, the prognosis for Brussels is not good.
Since Britain voted to leave the EU member states have rushed to deny they will ever quit the bloc.
But rumours in Strasbourg suggest the calls to leave are getting louder in some member states.
Hungarian MEP György Schöpflin said there is “no question” Hungary hopes to stay in the Union, despite recent suggestions of other MPs in the country’s parliament.
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The MEP said support for the bloc is dipping in France.
He said: “If you are looking for a country to leave look at France.
“In Hungary support for the European Union is at around 65 per cent - in France it is around 40, and it is low in Italy as well.
“We want a European Union that is ready to listen. They are not ready to listen and they are going their own way.
“It is very hard to know what things will look like in three years time.
“What I would say is that there is a trend in this direction but there is also a counter trend and what they want is a federal Europe.”
A recent Edinburgh university poll showed 53 per cent of French want a referendum on EU membership with 33 per cent already set on leaving and 22 per cent undecided.
In the wake of Brexit, Marine Le Pen took to the airwaves and declared that “I would vote for Brexit, even if I think that France has 1,000 more reasons to leave than the UK”.
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French town Beauvais, which sits between Calais and Paris, is overwhelmingly in favour of a Frexit and has been spurred on by Britain voting to leave.
Now rumblings in Brussels suggest a Frexit vote could well be on the cards.
The senior Brussels politician made the claims in an interview with Express.co.uk over the coming Hungarian referendum on EU migrant quotas.
Viktor Orban’s country will vote on Sunday on whether or not they support taking part in an EU scheme to distribute asylum seekers to EU nations.
Mr Orban’s Fidesz Party wants people to reject the will of the EU.
Mr Schopflin said the vote will cary “no legal consequences” and is mainly about support for the Hungarian prime minister.
He said: “This last week things look more or less like they are going to come out like the polls say, that a solid majority are going to say no to Brussels.
“Whether that majority is 70 per cent or 80 per cent - turn out will be much more difficult to gage
“The quota is about accepting migrants from other EU countries.
“What people are really up in arms against is this being a compulsory quota issued by Brussels.
“Hungary has never given its consent. When the government says 'say no to Brussels' it's as much about that as anything else.”
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But Hungary has had a bitter relationship with Brussels for the last few years.
When Mr Orban’s Government was voted in with a two thirds majority the new Government found there was a much larger deficit than they anticipated.
Mr Schopflin said: “Orban went to the commission and said ‘we have a problem, can you love us some leeway?’ They said no.
“Six years of relations with ourselves and Brussels have not been wonderful. Much of it had taken place outside he public view.”
