What is "frexit"

"Frexit" is a common name for a hypothetical French withdrawal from the European Union. The name is based on " Brexit", the common name for the British vote to leave the union.

A poll by the Pew Research Center in June 2016, before the British referendum, found France to have a 61% unfavourable view of the EU, second only to Greece's 71%, with the UK on 48%.

After the British vote to leave, French National Front leader Marine Le Pen proposed a French referendum on EU membership if she were to win the 2017 presidential election. Incumbent president François Hollande met with politicians including Le Pen in the aftermath of the vote, and rejected her proposal for a referendum. Fellow 2017 candidates Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the Left Party and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan of France Arise also advocate for a referendum.

American billionaire investor George Soros, who opposed Britain's exit, predicts France and the Netherlands as the next countries to leave the EU.