Macron's Move to Build Ties With Russia Taken From Le Pen's 'Playbook'

By putting emphasis on the need to find common ground with Russia, especially in the field of counterterrorism, French President Emmanuel Macron is taking a page from his former campaign rival, National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen's, playbook, European Parliament's FN member Bernard Monot told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, Macron received Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Versailles Palace outside Paris. During their meeting, the two leaders discussed bilateral relations and the most pressing issues on the international agenda, particularly the crises in Ukraine and Syria.

"Again this is an area [the anti-terrorism cooperation], where Marine Le Pen insisted on the necessity of a close cooperation between our two nations. I am not sure Mr. Macron was a great supporter of Le Pen’s approach until he became president but let's leave this to the past," Monot said, commenting on whether Macron's recent moves toward a rapprochement with Moscow could be regarded as an attempt to rally support among National Front’s electorate.

According to the lawmaker, the two counties should qualitatively improve anti-terrorism cooperation, as they belong to the same civilization confronted with Islamist and extremist ideologies.

"We belong to the same civilization that Islamists and extremists want to destroy so we must fight them back together side by side, like we did 70 years ago against another barbarism. Islamic terrorism is a threat and a reality that we both face and, we in France know the price Russia has paid for its fight against fundamentalism in the Caucasus," Monot said.

Unlike Le Pen and several of his former opponents on the left and right in the past presidential race, Macron has avoided making any definite statements with regard to his stance on French-Russian ties. On several occasions, including televised presidential debates, Macron said that he would not be in favor of a rapprochement with Russia.

France's two-round legislative election will be held on June 11 and June 18, during which candidates will compete for 577 places in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French bicameral parliament.

A Kantar Sofres poll published on Tuesday showed that Macron’s La Republique En Marche! (The Republic on the Move) party, which still is without elected officials, is projected to gain 31 percent of the vote, while The Republicans' party and the FN are set to receive 18 percent and 17 percent of the vote, respectively.