Europe's nationalist parties call for further referendums

Europe’s nationalist parties expressed their delight and called for referendums in their own countries after British voters have chosen to leave the European Union. Government leaders prepared to show their dismay.

“There must be a referendum now in France!” Marine Le Pen’s National Front party said in a posting on Twitter a few hours after it became known that Brexit had triumphed. “The European Union is crumbling and it’s a good thing! The people of Europe aspire to something else.”

Matteo Salvini, head of Italy’s Northern League, said in his post: “Thanks U.K., now it’s our turn.” “Hurrah for the British!” tweeted Geert Wilders, the anti-EU leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, which leads in opinion polls ahead of elections in the Netherlands next spring. “Now it is our turn.”

Governments in Europe have long been fearful of a Leave vote in the UK's referendum and how it could shape the political atmosphere in the EU for years to come. The British vote turned on the EU’s perceived failure to control immigration and create good jobs.