by
Hans Izaak Kriek*
A few days ago, he expressed support for far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, but stopped short of a complete endorsement. In an interview with Associated Press, Trump said although he was not offering an endorsement, he thinks Le Pen is 'strongest on borders, and she's the strongest on what's been going on in France’.
The president had also weighed in on election as usual on Twitter. Trump said he believed the Thursday attack in Paris, which left a Paris police officer dead and which ISIS has claimed responsibility for, would affect the election. In the interview with AP, Trump added that he thought the attack will ‘probably help’ Le Pen. Later, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, denied Trump has a preference in the French election. However, the elections are very important for the future of Europe and NATO.
Macron wants to make French stronger in Europe and will do more for the French people. Le Pen has put terrorism, immigration and criticism of the European Union at the center of her campaign. She was spotted in Trump’s Tower in New York in January and is supported by Russian President Putin. Former President Obama has also weighed in on the race, taking a call from Macron but not making an endorsement.
The outcome of the first round of the presidential elections was predictable, the French voters picking independent candidate Emmanuel Macron, former economy minister and National Front Leader Marine Le Pen to advance to decisive May 7 runoff, French citizens set up a stark choice. They rejected the two political parties that dominated France’s post World War II political life, pitting an anti-immigrant firebrand against an unconventional centrist in a presidential election that could determine the future of the European Union and France’s place in the world.
Now there will be a battle between a contender who wants to seal France tight against the tides of globalisation and another who seeks to strip away even more barriers with the rest of the world. Macron has called for a more muscular European Union in which Europe’s richest nations would do more to prop up their poorer neighbors. Le Pen seek to pull France out of the European Union, a move many leaders on the continent think would doom the EU as bloc. She also wants to restore relations with Putin after years of strife between the West and Russia. May 7, will show who will become the victor, and he or she determine the international alliances that formed the backbone of the West after World War II will strengthen or be shattered by the force of nationalism.
On May 7, we’ll hear how President Trump will react on the outcome of the French presidential runoff. Macron or Le Pen. If Le Pen wins - what hardly anyone expect - she will continue a global string of ballot-box revolutions that began last year with the British decision to leave the EU and continued with the election of Donald Trump as US president. With her fierce anti-immigration agenda and her vow to keep France for the French, she could be a Gallic counterpart to President Trump. But if Macron wins, it would be a further barrier to translate disruptions, at least for now.
*Hans Izaak Kriek is international political commentator for European Business Review and editor-in-chief of Kriek Media.
By: N. Peter Kramer
