Emmanuel Macron says EU must reform or face Frexit - BBC News

The front-runner in the French presidential election has told the BBC that the EU must reform or face the prospect of "Frexit".

Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron made the comments as he and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen entered the last week of campaigning.

French voters go to the polls on Sunday to decide between the pair.

Ms Le Pen has capitalised on anti-EU feeling, and has promised a referendum on France's membership.

She won support in rural and former industrial areas by promising to retake control of France's borders from the EU and slash immigration.

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"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," Mr Macron, leader of the recently created En Marche! movement, told the BBC.

"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, impatient and the dysfunction of the EU is no more sustainable.

"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."

Mr Macron added that if he were to allow the EU to continue to function as it was would be a "betrayal".

"And I don't want to do so," he said. "Because the day after, we will have a Frexit or we will have [Ms Le Pen's] National Front (FN) again."

Image copyrightREUTERS

Both Mr Macron - who is leading in the polls by 20 percentage points - and Ms Le Pen will hold rallies in Paris later.

The pro-business Mr Macron will seek to highlight his appeal as a future-orientated innovator by speaking at a modern convention centre near the La Villette science complex in north-east Paris, Agence France Presse reports.

Ms Le Pen will take her case as "the people's candidate" to the working-class suburb of Villepinte, the agency adds.

Traditional May Day protests are also expected. Trade unions are taking to the streets to urge voters to block the FN, while FN founder Jean-Marie Le Pen attended a march from the statue of Joan of Arc, a long-time FN icon.

Jean-Marie Le Pen was kicked out of the FN by his daughter two years ago for repeatedly calling the Holocaust a "detail of history" - remarks which were preventing Marine Le Pen from putting distance between the party and its past links with anti-Semitism.

Sunday was France's national day of remembrance for the French Jews who were deported to Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

Image copyrightEPA

Mr Macron visited Paris's Holocaust memorial to pay his respects, while Ms Le Pen laid a wreath at the World War Two monument in Marseille.

But the war remains a difficult area for Ms Le Pen. She suggested earlier this month France was not responsible for a 1942 wartime round-up of 13,000 Jews, who were sent from France to Nazi death camps.

Meanwhile, Jean-François Jalkh - the man she named as interim president of the FN while she campaigned - was forced to step down on Tuesday amid claims he had questioned the reality of Nazi gas chambers, which is a crime under French law. He denies wrongdoing.

2017年4月28日，法国沙泰勒罗市，法国总统候选人马克龙发表演说。图片来源：视觉中国

亲欧的法国中间派总统候选人马克龙在5月1日接受BBC采访时说，欧盟必须进行改革，否则将面临法国脱离的局面。

五天之后，马克龙将与极右翼的国民阵线候选人勒庞进行第二轮投票对决。选民民调显示，马克龙将凭借59%-60%的支持率获得最终的胜利。

勒庞主张脱欧和放弃欧元，以及重新夺回法国边境控制权。此前，勒庞反复把法国的高失业率归罪于欧洲单一货币，并声称这是欧盟头号经济大国德国控制其他国家的工具，以及呼吁欧洲国家要开始认识到这一点。

政治立场相反的马克龙说，“我是亲欧派，我在竞选中一直维护欧盟和欧盟政策的理念，因为我相信这对法国人民，以及法国在全球化中的位置非常重要。”

“但与此同时，我们要倾听人民的声音，要认清这样的事实：他们的声音极度愤怒、急迫，欧盟的机能失调，已不可持续。因此，一旦胜出后，我会立即推动欧盟彻底的改革。”他说。

勒庞和马克龙都将于今天晚些时候在首都巴黎拉票。