Having maintained its customary neutrality prior to the first round of the presidential election, following Sunday’s results the European Movement France released a statement calling on the French electorate to block Marine Le Pen in the upcoming second round vote. Voters will make their final choice between the eurosceptic Front National leader and pro-European independent candidate Emmanuel Macron on the 7th of May.

The statement qualifies the presence of Le Pen in the second round as “an immediate threat to France’s membership of the European Union, the Schengen Area and the Eurozone”.  A triple membership which EM France believes to be “an essential component of our country’s future”.

While expressing confidence that “a large majority of our fellow citizens are committed to the European project”, the statement warns against electing a candidate “who wishes to trigger a process of leaving the Union which would cause great uncertainty and untold unrest”. This view is informed by EM France’s wish for France “to stay faithful to the values of openness upon which our Republic and European Union are founded”.

To block Le Pen, EM France therefore appeals to French voters to mobilize alongside them throughout the campaign for the second round and vote for Emmanuel Macron on the 7^th of May

You can read the full statement in English here.

The original French version is also available: ME-F_Déclaration-2nd-tour-présidentielle

And from now until the second round, you can keep up with European Movement France via their website and twitter.