Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-05-06 From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" CONTENTS [01] Macron will be Greece's ally, Moscovici tells ANA --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [01] Macron will be Greece's ally, Moscovici tells ANA PARIS (ANA/G. Kouvaras) - French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron will support Greece and be Athens' ally if he is elected, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency in an exclusive statement, one day before the second round of the election in France. "I have no doubt that that with Emmanuel Macron as President, yes, Greece will continue to have a friend in France, a president friend and a government friend, and this is why these elections are also important for the Greeks," Moscovici said, adding he has worked with Macron in the past for the Greek program. "I know Emmanuel Macron very well. We worked together when I was finance minister, when he was deputy secretary-general next to Francois Hollande, to find positive positions concerning Greece, for Greece. France is a country who's a friend of Greece. It will remain [a friend]" he continued. Moscovici said that being friend of Greece means, on the one hand, encouraging it to encourage the responsibilities and follow the efforts for reforms until the end but it also means solidarity from its partners. Commenting on the second round of the presidential elections, the French Commissioner noted they are important for Greece, but also for all Europeans, because "in the second round you have an opposition which is almost a caricature, between a candidate who wants to destroy Europe, who wants to take France out of the euro and a candidate who is pro-European and pro-Euro. "Therefore all the republicans, all the French democrats, whatever their political sympathies, must rally against the National Front and this is why I'm here," he added. On Friday night, Moscovici participated in an event which gathered representatives from all political parties except Jean-Luc Melenchon, to declare their opposition towards abstention, which would be in favour of Marine Le Pen.