Macron’s mission
President-elect promises response to mass hacking on eve of French election blamed on Russians
EMMANUEL MACRON will not rule out using force to retaliate against Russian cyber attacks, a chief aide has suggested in the wake of a massive computer hacking of his movement shortly before Sunday’s election.
The warning came as the 39-year-old centrist hit the ground running a day after trouncing far-right rival Marine Le Pen to become France’s youngest president, renaming his movement and announcing a trip to Germany, where he hopes to “reboot” the European Union.
Just minutes before the French presidential campaign closed at midnight last Friday, Mr Macron’s campaign team announced it been the victim of a “massive hacking attack” after a trove of documents was released online.
Immediate suspicion fell on Russia, which has been accused of meddling in the US election to get Donald Trump into the White House in November.
Yesterday, Aurélien Lechevallier, the new president’s foreign policy adviser, said: “We will have a doctrine of retaliation when it comes to Russian cyber attacks or any other kind of attacks. This means we are ready to retaliate against cyber attacks not only in kind but also with any other conventional measure or security tool.”
Campaign officials said authentic documents had been mixed on social media with fakes to sow “doubt and misinformation” and that it was an attempt to undermine Mr Macron.
Mr Macron’s En Marche! campaign has complained repeatedly that it was the target of a sustained Russian digital “smear campaign”.
François Hollande, the outgoing Socialist president, also made it clear on Saturday that any meddling in the electoral campaign would lead to retalia- tion. “Nothing will go unanswered,” he said.
“Macronleaks”, as it has been labelled, could yet come back to haunt the president-elect. While French media promised a blackout in the final hours of the campaign, Le Monde yesterday said it would comb the files and release any compromising information at a date of its choosing.
Despite the tensions, Mr Putin congratulated Mr Macron on his victory, calling on him to “overcome mutual mistrust and unite to ensure international stability and security”. Mr Trump also phoned the new French president to congratulate him.
Mr Macron, who won just under 66 per cent of the vote in the run-off, compared with Ms Le Pen’s 34 per cent, will pay for his first foreign trip to Germany, a senior aide confirmed yesterday. The visit will take place after his inauguration on Sunday.
Mr Macron will take over from Mr Hollande, whom he joined yesterday in commemorating the end of the Second World War and peace in Europe. Grasping his former protege’s arm affectionately at an Armistice Day ceremony at
the Arc de Triomphe, the deeply unpopular Mr Hollande said: “If he needs advice or counsel he can feel free to contact me.”
With the presidency under his belt, Mr Macron faces an uphill task of winning parliamentary elections next month. Polls suggest that could be tough, with one saying 61 per cent of French do not want the new head of state’s movement to win a majority in the National Assembly.
To appeal to potential MPS from across the political divide, his party yesterday announced it was changing its name to La République En Marche (The Republic on the Move). Half of the 577 candidates will be women, half from civil society and none will have a criminal record.
‘We will have a doctrine of retaliation when it comes to Russian cyber attacks or any other kind of attacks’