Macron calls for high turnout to avoid ‘mistakes’ of British who didn’t vote against Brexit

9 comments

1. ***The Telegraph reports:***

   Emmanuel Macron called on voters to avoid the mistakes of Britons who failed to cast a ballot against Brexit and turn out in high numbers in Sunday’s [European Parliament election](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/02/europe-fighting-back-against-european-union-overlords/).

   The French president warned that low turnout would hand power to the hard-Right, leading to mass migration, weakened protection against future pandemics and a damaged European Union.

   Mr Macron, who has been [attending the 80th anniversary of D-Day](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/03/macron-hijacking-d-day-to-boost-eu-election-hopes/), intervened in the campaign in a last-ditch attempt to ward off a predicted rout for his Renaissance party against Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (Rassemblement National, RN).

   “Come on, go vote on June 9, it is very important. I say this because I always think back to our British friends who did not go to vote on Brexit day. Not going to vote is leaving the future of our continent and our country to others,” he said.

   Voting will “help France be stronger in Europe and to help Europe be stronger in protecting France”, he insisted.

   **Read more:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/07/emmanuel-macron-high-turnout-european-election-brexit-vote/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/07/emmanuel-macron-high-turnout-european-election-brexit-vote/)

2. The Brexit referendum had a 72% turnout, which was massive. There hasn’t been a UK general election that equalled or surpassed that since 1992 (honourable mention to 1997 at 71%) and there have only been 5 general elections to surpass 72% turnout in the last 100 years. European Parliament elections have been below 50% for every election of the last 20 years bar 2019, when it reached 50.66%.

3. Only citizens are eligible to vote right? What are some pan EU parties? There must be some who want more integration among member states?

4. Let’s hope turnout is higher than last time.

5. He’s right though, if more young people turned up for the brexit vote, it wouldn’t have happened

6. Look how scared he is to let the far right win. Maybe he should avoid making them rise with the amount of stupid decisions he made for the last 7 years

7. “Didn’t vote against Brexit” sounds a lot better than “didn’t vote to remain in the EU”. If the EU was as great as it pretends, a lot more people would’ve been enthusiastic to vote for it.

8. This may very well be the first positive effect of the Brexit vote. An example to avoid.

9. If more young people turned up for the brexit vote, it wouldn’t have happened