Germany, Spain and Portugal leaders back Macron in French vote

In Sunday's French presidential election runoff, the leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal publicly supported Emmanuel Macron, calling for French voters to support freedom, democracy and a stronger Europe and taking a swipe at Brexit.

In a highly unusual intervention in another country s election, Olaf Scholz, Pedro Snchez and Ant nio Costa said in a column in the leading French newspaper Le Monde that France's second round vote was for us, not an election like any other. The centre- left German chancellor and Spanish and Portuguese prime ministers said they hoped the incumbent's vision of France, Europe and the world would win.

They chose between a democratic candidate who believes that France is stronger in a powerful and autonomous EU and an extreme-right candidate who openly supports those who attack our liberty and our democracy.

The EU needed a France that was at the heart of the European project, continuing to defend our common values in a strong and generous Europe. We hope that the citizens of the French Republic will choose it. A longtime Eurosceptic, Le Pen, who is trailing Macron two days before the vote, has dropped her pledge to abandon the euro and leave the EU in previous elections. But much of her platform would involve breaking EU and single market rules, experts said, leading to a Frexit in all but name In a dig at Britain's decision to leave the bloc, the three leaders said that Take back control had been the Brexiteers promise but that it had instead disrupted Britain s transport and supply chains, caused a collapse in foreign trade and seen inflation rates generally higher than in the eurozone. Those in the UK who were supposed to be the first beneficiaries of leaving the EU workers, young people and the vulnerable are those who have suffered the most, they wrote.

The election outcome was crucial for France and Europe because of Russia's war in Ukraine, according to the leaders. Populists and the far right in all our countries have made Vladimir Putin an ideological and political model, they wrote, referring to past admiring remarks by Le Pen about the Russian president.

A spokesman for Le Pen's Rassemblement National National Rally said outside interventions in elections were rarely welcomed by voters or effective, adding that there were other EU governments that shared her vision for an alliance of sovereign nations An emotional appeal by Barack Obama to British voters not to back Brexit was widely criticised by Leave campaigners, with some suggesting that the then US president's remarks may have helped their cause.