The French President is yet to formally confirm his intention to run for a second term in office but is expected to lead the race in the upcoming election, which runs from April 10-24. Emmanuel Macron‘s main rival for the French presidency will likely be political veteran Marine Le Pen of the National Rally, who finished runner up to him in the last election in 2017. Since then, she has led a continued anti-immigration, anti-European Union message that has seemingly resonated with many voters.

Last week, Mr Macron suffered a huge blow when a damning poll showed nearly two-thirds of French people would like to vote in a referendum on the EU membership.

Now leading Frexiteers are ramping momentum for a split from the EU, with French MEP and leader of The Patriots political party Florian Philippot leading the charge.

He tweeted: “Sixty-three percent of French people demand a referendum on the #Frexit (poll published last week). Time to go!”

“Our debates on the sovereign, the economy, foreign policy, democracy will then find meaning!”

In response to this tweet, Generation Frexit President Charles-Henri-Gallois posted a link to an online petition from referendum-ue.org, signed by more than 25,000 people, demanding an EU referendum.

It highlights two major changes since 55 percent of people voted against European Constitutional Treaty in 2005, adding “these changes will cost the French dearly”.

The first of these is Brexit, which has seen France’s contribution to the EU by £4.16billion (€5billion) to reach an eye-watering £24.12billion (29billion), according to the petition.

Brussels also recently introduced an “EU Recovery Plan” following the economic crisis caused by the Covid pandemic, which the petition says is costing France an astounding £33.27billion (€40billion).

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Mr Gallois tweeted: “Let’s put pressure on the candidates to include this referendum in their programme.

“It is also in the interest of Zemmour, Mélenchon or Le Pen to do so because their current strategy on the EU is tactically suicidal.”

Last week, the IFOP poll of 1,002 adults showed 63 percent of French people would like to vote in a referendum on the EU membership.

This saw Generation Frexit campoaigners urge all presidential candidates to promise a Frexit referendum in their manifesto ahead of the April vote.

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They said: “The result of this poll conducted by IFOP in February 2022 is clear: a majority of French people want this referendum.

“Thirty years after the Maastricht Treaty, they are aware that the conditions of membership of the European Union have nothing to do with what they were at the beginning.

“Whether they are for or against leaving the EU, they feel it is normal and democratic to be consulted on this issue.

“At a time when presidential candidates are avoiding the EU issue or proposing unworkable solutions such as disobedience or the superiority of national law over EU law, this poll should challenge them.

“Some say that the lack of explicit mention of leaving the EU is an election tactic. If this were the case, it would be a tactical miscalculation since the EU is nothing but law and treaties.

“Disobeying or no longer recognising the hierarchy of norms means taking a position for a de facto Frexit, which the media and EU supporters will not fail to remind us of during the period between the two elections.

“It is therefore a losing strategy that will lead to the opposite result of what is desired.

“It is not too late for the candidates Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Éric Zemmour, Fabien Roussel, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan or Marine Le Pen to change their tactics.

“They should propose to the French people a renegotiation in Brussels and commit themselves, whatever the outcome of the negotiations, to organise this referendum on France’s membership of the EU.

The campaigners added: “The worst they could be accused of would be to seek to enforce the will of the majority and express democracy.

“Génération Frexit is delighted with the result of this poll and calls on these candidates to change their losing strategy! This poll proves on the contrary that it is the strategy of a referendum on our EU membership that is favoured by the French.

“This strategy is the one proposed by Génération Frexit since its creation.”