Main candidate for Macron's European group gives support to Cs

The party of French president Emmanuel Macron in the European elections, Renaissance soutenue par la Republique En Marche, has come out in support of the unionist center-right party, Ciutadans (Cs).

The main candidate standing for the French party, Nathalie Loiseau, sent a message of support to Cs, whose top European candidate, Luis Garicano, later shared on Twitter.

“Ciutadans is who we want to work with,” Loiseau says in the video message, and Garicano thanked her for the support, pointing out that for some time Cs "has been working closely with leaders and advisors from Macron's party.”

Rumors of strained relationship

The show of support comes after recent speculation that Macron's party had distanced itself from Cs, after the unionists reached an agreement with the far-right Vox party in Andalusia.

In January, Loiseau, who at the time was France's foreign minister, warned Cs about making deals with "a far-right party that defends completely opposing values."

However in March, Cs denied any distance had opened up with the En Marche party over the Andalusia deal and Garicano described the relationship as “completely fluid.”

Cs hopes that, following the European election on May 26, it can go into coalition with En Marche, which is putting candidates forward for seats in Brussels for the first time.