When EU leaders unanimously rushed to praise the Emmanuel Macron, they began to ask questions about whether it is appropriate that Brussels to intervene in the French elections amid concerns about negative reactions of voters.
Most acutely (and unavoidable) this question was asked in Moscow, where Pro-Kremlin TV channel Russia Today has asked the head of EU foreign policy Federica Mogherini to explain its written in a Sunday tweet in which she welcomed the Rules, calling it “the hope and future of our generation.”
Voir les drapeaux de la #France et de l’#UE saluer le résultat de @emmanuelmacron, C’est l’espoir et le futur de notre génération
— Federica Mogherini (@FedericaMog) 23 APR 2017
@FedericaMog
Flags of France and the EU welcome the result of Emmanuel Macron, which is the hope and future of our generation.
“About the same number of French voters obviously consider to be their hope and their future marine Le Pen,” said a reporter for RT Mogherini on her joint press conference with Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“My question is the following: if Russia is considered to be one of the candidates hoping generations will not accuse her of interfering in the French election?”
Mogherini turned to Lavrov dryly asked him: “Sergei, you would not want to answer that?”
Then she started to say, and sometimes quite messy. Mogherini explained that speaking about “the hope and the future,” she meant not the Macron, which 7 may have a second round of voting and the struggle against Le Pen, and the flags of the EU and France, who carried his supporters.
“When the European and French flags together, it is proof that the people and people can be both French and Europeans. And so this is a significant part of my generation is also the generation of Macron”, — said Mogherini.
Then she added: “So it seems to me that the hope of the generation I is not called Emmanuel, and that he saw the European and French flags together.”
Mogherini was not the only European official, who on Monday had to explain the jubilation caused by the leadership of the Macron in the first round, and the vigorous support which he expressed to the leaders of the EU, although Brussels has long been a tradition not to interfere in domestic political campaigns in individual countries.
When the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker called Him and congratulated him on his victory, reporters pelted the head of his press service of Chinasa Margaritis (Margaritis Schinas) questions about the propriety of such action, and asked him whether Juncker in a similar way to Express their preferences in elections in Britain on 8 June.
Because of the antipathy of Le Pen in Brussels to support the Macron was a natural step for most officials from among the supporters of the EU, and Shinas have tried to present the position of Juncker in this context.
“The choice was between protecting what is Europe, and another option, which is aimed at the destruction of Europe, he said. Is a simple choice, and as our Chairman thought it was appropriate to congratulate the candidate, defending the choice in favor of Europe.”
Shinas said that the elections in Britain — is another matter. “In the General election in the United Kingdom, the British will decide how they will rule for the next five years, he said. — It is not our business, not the business of Brussels, is not the case of the European Commission. The case of the sovereign British people.”
Shines dismissed the allegations that Juncker’s congratulations were premature. “The elections have not ended, — he said, — but the fundamental choice remains the same”.
The views of the supporters of the EU today is not in Vogue, particularly in Western Europe, which in recent years has faced a wave of populism and protests against the establishment. Therefore, it is not clear how to act in the second round of independent candidate macron, who presents himself as an alternative to the leading parties. If he’ll agree to support the leadership of the EU, or try to distance themselves from Brussels?
Mogherini, who visited Moscow after 2014 was the EU high representative for foreign Affairs, tried to insist that there is no difference between the EU and the European countries does not exist, and therefore her comment is hardly interference.
“Without their countries members of the European Union does not exist and therefore comment on the joint appearance of the flags of the EU and France is not an intervention,” she said.
“The distance between the capitals and Brussels, which allegedly exists within and outside the EU, it is not true, — said Mogherini, referring to his experience as a government Minister in Rome. — I know very well that the decisions of the European Union adopts not some stranger living in Brussels.”
