Three days before the second round of the presidential election in France, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa have called for a vote for “the democratic candidate”.
“The second round of the French presidential election is not, for us, an election like the others. The choice facing the French people is crucial for France and for all of us in Europe. It is the choice between a Democratic candidate, who believes that France is stronger in a powerful and autonomous European Union, and a far-right candidate, who openly sides with those who attack our freedom and our democracy. , said the three heads of state in a column published in the newspaper Le Monde.
“It was with France that we mobilized for greater European solidarity, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit our continent”, mentioned in particular Olaf Scholz, Antonio Costa and Pedro Sanchez, who underlined the seriousness of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and therefore the need for a strong European response.
Without ever naming one or the other candidate, the three heads of state called for favoring the “democratic candidate” over the “populists” and the “extreme right”, which was echoed in particular for a long time. of Vladimir Putin’s policy and which has been trying to make him forget since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
“We need France by our side (…) A France which defends our common values, in a Europe in which we recognize ourselves, which is free and open to the world, sovereign, strong and generous at the same time” , they assured. “It is this France that is also on the April 24 ballot. We hope that the citizens of the French Republic will choose it”, concluded the authors of the tribune.