The EU must change or face Frexit, Emmanuel Macron, the centrist front-runner for the French presidency, told the BBC in an interview published Monday.
Macron, who has taken a pro-EU line during the election campaign, said he would take a leading role in reforming the bloc.
“I’m a pro-European, I defended constantly during this election the European idea and European policies,” said Macron, whose rival for the presidency is the Euroskeptic former leader of the far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen. “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.”
Macron said he would not allow the EU to proceed as it had before because to do so would be a “betrayal” that would lead to “a Frexit, or we will have National Front again.”
He continued: “So I do consider that my mandate … to reform in depth the European Union and our European project.”
The final round of the French presidential election is on Sunday.