WATCH Emmanuel Macron: France would probably have voted to leave EU in a referendum
2 min read
French President Emmanuel Macron today admitted France would "probably" have voted to quit the EU if offered the chance in a referendum.
He said the outcome of such a referendum could have mirrored the vote for Brexit if it had been held in “a similar context”.
Mr Macron was voted in against the odds last year amid the rise of anti-EU populism in France led by National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
Asked on the Andrew Marr show if France would have voted to quit the bloc if a referendum had been held, he said: "Yes, probably.".
But he added: “Our context was very different, so I don’t want to take any bets...but I would have fought very hard to win."
Mr Macron was critical of the way the question of membership was put to the country.
“I think it is a mistake to just ask ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when you don’t ask people how to improve the situation and to explain how to improve it,” he said.
The French President suggested the Brexit vote was the natural outcome of an electorate dissatisfied with globalisation.
He added: “As for the Brexit vote, my understanding is that middle classes and working classes and especially the oldest in your country decided that the recent decades were not in their favour.”
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