Hard-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has promised to opt-out of EU treaties if he is elected president. Mr Mélenchon today tweeted: "If the French vote for my program and I become President of the Republic, I make the ABSOLUTE commitment that it will be applied from start to finish. And if a European treaty opposes it, I will do: 'Opt-out'."

       In a highly charged political debate aired on French television on Thursday night, Mr Mélenchon stated his left-leaning agenda for France.

       This agenda included the merits of what he called “créolisation”, which he described as the idea in which “human beings come together and create something in common”.

       In the debate, he argued with a potential presidential candidate, the far-right Eric Zemmour.

       In the face-off with Mr Zemmour, Mr Mélenchon repeated his determination to walk away from EU treaties.

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       He said: "I want to get out of the European treaties.

       "We are locked in European treaties which mean that those who govern no longer have any margin of action.

       "This is why I want to get out of the treaties.

       "If the French vote for my program, I make a commitment that my program will be applied from start to finish and if that does not suit European treaties, I will opt-out."

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       These views were echoed by Florian Philippot, the president of the French Eurosceptic political party The Patriots.

       However, Mr Philippot went one step further and added that "Frexit is the only solution" to the perceived political entanglement of being within the bloc.

       He tweeted: "The program of disobedience to the EU Treaties is a deceptive illusion.

       "If we stay in the EU but 'disobey', we create a mountain of litigation that kills the rule of law first, and then we are pulverized in 48 hours by the ECB!

       "Frexit is the only solution!"

       During Thursday night's broadcast, Mr Zemmour raised the issue of nationalism and what it means to be French.

       He slammed Islam as being “incompatible” with the Republic’s motto “liberty, equality, fraternity”.

       The far-right pundit said the French “feel colonised and have an existential fear of disappearing”.

       He added that lawlessness in the country was “a jihad, a war being waged against us, a war of civilisations, a war of looting, a war of theft, a war of rape and a war of murder".

       Additional reporting by Maria Ortega.