Estonia's leaders hail Emmanuel Macron's French presidential reelection
Estonian leaders have joined their counterparts across Europe and beyond in congratulating French President Emmanuel Macron on his reelection for a second term, following Sunday's run-off vote against far-right candidate Marine le Pen.
Tweeting in French, President Alar Karis wrote: "Congratulations Emmanuel Macron. France and Estonia are very close allies; we defend the same values in NATO and the EU. I wish you plenty of success for your new five-year term."
Félicitations @EmmanuelMacron! La France et l'Estonie sont des alliés très proches, nous défendons les mêmes valeurs au sein de l'OTAN et de l'Union Européenne. Je vous souhaite plein succès pour votre nouveau quinquennat !
— Alar Karis (@AlarKaris) April 24, 2022
Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) tweeted, also in French: "All our congratulations for you reelection to the Presidency of the Republic of France. I am looking forward to the continuation of our close cooperation and of our friendship in constructing a Europe which is safer and stronger."
Cher @EmmanuelMacron, toutes mes félicitations pour votre réélection à la présidence de la République française. Je me réjouis de la continuité de notre étroite coopération et de notre amitié pour construire une Europe plus sûre et plus forte. pic.twitter.com/2Bq0vegWMZ
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) April 24, 2022
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Eva-Maria Liimets (Center) also offered her congratulations and expressed her hopes for continued good relations with the country.
Congratulations to President @EmmanuelMacron for being re-elected! Wish the &relations bright future under this new term of leadership of France!
— Eva-Maria Liimets (@eliimets) April 24, 2022
Emmanuel Macron (LREM) picked up 58.5 percent of Sunday's run-off vote versus Marine Le Pen's (RN) 41.5 percent, initial results state, making him the first French leader to be returned for a second term since Jacques Chirac achieved the feat in 2002.
In the first round two weeks ago, Macron was nearly 5 percentage points ahead of Le Pen, while the prospect of the latter pulling off an upset victory had led to concerns given the current defense and security situation in the wake of Russia's war on Ukraine, now entering its third month.
Macron and Le Pen had faced-off at the last election in 2017 also; that time the gap was wider, with 66.1 percent of the vote going to Macron and 33.9 to Le Pen.
French soldiers regularly contribute to the NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup based at Tapa, east of Tallinn.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
