The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) said Monday that it does not share the policies of either of the two candidates to reach the run-off in France's presidential election. "We truly have little in common with the programme of (Emmanuel) Macron and (Marine) Le Pen," Manlio Di Stefano, the M5S's foreign affairs pointman, said on Facebook. "Neither of them has brought qualified citizens from civil society into the institutions". Di Stefano added that French voters had "chosen to punish" traditionally dominant parties "who betrayed them by supporting the Fiscal Compact, pension cuts and austerity".
He said that this is what the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Paolo Gentiloni, Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia and the right-wing Northern League had done in Italy.
Industry Minister Carlo Calenda on Monday welcomed the fact that Macron came top in the first round of the French presidential election while blasting those in Italy who he said were rushing to link themselves to the centrist. "Macron result fundamental for the stability of the EU," Calenda said via Twitter. "The Italian race to see who is most Macron is a symptom of weakness and provincialism".
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