THE HERALD: A disunited France today goes to the polling stations to choose its new or not so new president but as voters in many cases hold their noses, Europe will be holding its breath.
A remarkable intervention ahead of the vote underlined people’s fears that the very future of the European Union could be at stake. In a joint article in Le Monde, the leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal issued a stark warning to French voters and urged them to back Centrist Emmanuel Macron.
In a direct attack on his rival, Marine Le Pen, they highlighted her previous links to the tyrant in the Kremlin, saying people should not forget “populists and the Far Right in all our countries have made Vladimir Putin an ideological and political model…even if these politicians are now trying to distance themselves from the Russian aggressor”.
They added: “It is a choice between a democratic candidate, who believes France is stronger in a powerful and autonomous EU and a Far Right candidate, who openly sides with those who attack our freedom and democracy; fundamental values that come directly from the French Enlightenment.”
Macron, fiercely pro-EU, wants to strengthen the 27-member bloc while Le Pen, although she has ditched her Frexit ambitions, wants the EU to become more of an association of nation states. » | Michael Settle | Sunday, April 24, 2022
« Nous avons besoin d’une France qui défende nos valeurs européennes communes », plaident les chefs de gouvernement portugais, espagnol et allemand : Antonio Costa, Pedro Sanchez et Olaf Scholz se prononcent, dans une tribune au « Monde », contre « une candidate d’extrême droite qui se range ouvertement du côté de ceux qui attaquent notre liberté et notre démocratie ». »
