EU leaders welcome Macron’s first-round victory in French election

The European commission president has broken protocol to wish Emmanuel Macron well in the second round of the French presidential election, as the EU rallied against those seeking its “destruction”.

Jean-Claude Juncker congratulated Macron for winning Sunday’s first round and wished him luck against the Front National’s Marine Le Pen on 7 May, Margaritis Schinas, a commission spokesman, said on Twitter.

The commission usually avoids commenting on ongoing national elections, but Schinas later said circumstances had forced Juncker’s hand. He said the decision facing the French electorate “was a fundamental one”, between Macron, who represents pro-Europe values, and Le Pen, who “seeks its destruction”.

“When the choice is set along these lines, for Jean Claude Juncker, who has spent 35 years of his life defending Europe’s values and the need for cooperation, the choice is pretty obvious,” Schinas said.

The spokesman said the commission would not be involved in the next two weeks of campaigning, but it had “tools” at its disposal in Paris and Brussels should it be necessary to debunk any untruths told about the EU.

Macron, a pro-European centrist who ran as the head of his own political movement, topped the first round with 23.75% of votes, slightly ahead of the anti-immigration, far-right Le Pen, who took 21.53%.

The historic first-round result marked the rejection of the ruling political class – it was the first time since the postwar period that the traditional left and right ruling parties were both ejected from the race in the first round.

Macron, the clear favourite to win the second round, was swiftly endorsed by the defeated republican and socialist candidates, François Fillon and Benoît Hamon.

As both sides looked to court support from their defeated rivals, Le Pen went on the attack on Monday morning.

“I’m on the ground to meet the French people to draw their attention to important subjects, including Islamist terrorism, to which the least we can say Macron is weak on,” Le Pen said. “Macron has no project to protect the French people in the face of Islamist dangers.” She added that the runoff with Macron was a referendum on “uncontrolled globalisation”.

Le Pen has spoken of “liberating” France from the EU and calling a referendum on the country’s membership of the euro. The Front National leader, who has no natural alliances with other parties – crucial for winning the second round – called for all “patriots” to join her.

Analysts have said Le Pen’s best chance of hauling back Macron’s big lead in the polls is to paint him as a part of an elite aloof from ordinary French people and their problems.