Mr Mélenchon called on Paris to reduce its contribution to the EU’s budget, before branding himself a “French separatist”.
When asked by the French daily Les Echos whether his party, France Unbowed, shared common ground with far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s Front National, he said: “My political line and my political objectives are completely different to those of the FN. That said, we do agree on one thing: the EU does not protect the French, it threatens them.”
Mr Mélenchon then went on to position himself as a “separatist” with eurosceptic views.
He said: “I am a sovereigntist, in that I believe that the power belongs to the people. I guess I would describe myself as a French separatist.”
The hard-left firebrand said while he was not in favour of Frexit – a French exit from the EU – he believed France should reduce its net contribution to the EU budget in order to restore its fiscal credibility in Europe.
He said: “We are one of the only member states still subject to an excessive budget procedure. And yet, we’re paying some €20billion (£17.6billion) into the EU budget and only getting €14billion (£12.3billion) back.
“We’re basically giving away €6billion euros (£5.2billion)!
“It’s an extravagant expense. Paying for roads to be built in Romania and for airports to be built in the Baltic countries is all well and good, but we don’t have that kind of money to spare. Our budget deficit is still too high. We should be allowed to keep that six billion for ourselves, because we need it get out of the excessive budget procedure.”
The far-left leader added that France should withdraw from the EU’s budgetary treaties because “they are the worst”.
He said: “I am not for a Frexit, but I believe in a powerful France. France’s interests must be protected. We need to rebuild the EU, yes, but not at the detriment of France’s economic well-being. Because the EU is nothing without France.
“France is in danger, and if we do nothing to stop the country from unravelling, the bloc will explode. And no one – not France, not Germany – will benefit from this chaos.”
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said last month that France was on course to exit the excessive-deficit procedure it has faced since 2009 for failing to meet the EU deficit limit of three per cent of GDP.