French President Francois Hollande has called for the European Union to change focus and reduce its role.
Hollande was speaking in a televised address on May 26, a day after the antiimmigrant, anti-EU National Front party won its first-ever nationwide poll in European Parliament elections.
Hollande's Socialist Party had its worst-ever performance in an EU election.
Across Europe, extreme parties on the left and right made large gains in the voting, a result, analysts say, of public anger with Brussels over austerity, mass unemployment, and immigration.
Hollande said that the EU had become "remote and incomprehensible" for many of its citizens.
The French president said he would tell EU leaders in Brussels on May 27 that they must focus on growth, jobs, and investment, not on austerity.
Hollande was speaking in a televised address on May 26, a day after the antiimmigrant, anti-EU National Front party won its first-ever nationwide poll in European Parliament elections.
Hollande's Socialist Party had its worst-ever performance in an EU election.
Across Europe, extreme parties on the left and right made large gains in the voting, a result, analysts say, of public anger with Brussels over austerity, mass unemployment, and immigration.
Hollande said that the EU had become "remote and incomprehensible" for many of its citizens.
The French president said he would tell EU leaders in Brussels on May 27 that they must focus on growth, jobs, and investment, not on austerity.
