Is Le Pen mightier than the EU? Why Brussels faces a grim 2017

Marine Le Pen is running second in the French polls and has tapped into anger over immigration and the lacklustre income growth that is fuelling populist movements around the world. Photo: Reuters

Marc Champion

German Chancellor Angela Merkel may be the anchor that has held the European project firm through a decade of crises, yet it isn't her fight for re-election next year that is keeping investors awake at night. That honour goes to France.

Voters will choose new leaders in the Netherlands, then France and Germany over the next 12 months - with Italy and Greece conceivably also triggering snap elections.