Paris, France. In moves that must sound as if a space alien has possessed his body, Emmanuel Macron has stolen Marine Le Pen’s Frexit threat and tried to make the issue his own in desperation before this weeks final round in French Presedential elections.
French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has warned that the European Union must reform or face Frexit. But the polls momentum has recently been with Le Pen, who has clawed back about five percentage points over the past week.
Macron, who is trying to maintain his 4% per cent lead on his rival, this morning warned the EU must reform or face a Brexit-style vote.
As he spins it, ‘I’m a pro-European, I defended constantly during this election the European idea and European policies because I believe it’s extremely important for French people and for the place of our country in globalisation.
“But at the same time we have to face the situation, to listen to our people, and to listen to the fact that they are extremely angry today, so I do consider that my mandate, the day after, will be at the same time to reform in depth the European Union and our European project,” Macron says
“Allowing the EU to continue to operate as it does currently would be a ‘betrayal’ and I don’t want to do so. Because the day after, we will have a Frexit.” Macron concluded.
France has been under a state of emergency since 2015 and has suffered a number of Islamist militant attacks. More than 230 French people have been killed in the past two years. Days before the first round of voting on April 23 a French policeman was shot dead and two others were wounded in central Paris in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
The result of the run-off vote will depend to a large extent on floating voters and the level of abstentions, but French political observers concede that for Macron to adopt Le Pen’s stance on a Frexit, even without intent of following through, illustrates the EU and by proxy NATO, are in serious trouble.