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France President Emmanuel Macron
Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron described Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as a "right-wing anti-Semite" in a newspaper interview.
In the newspaper Le Parisien on Friday, Macron referred to a criticism expressed by Morawiecki a few days ago about his regular telephone calls with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin to mediate in the Ukraine war.
Polish Prime Minister Macron complained that no one had negotiated with Adolf Hitler.
Macron: Morawiecki wants to help Le Pen
"It's shameful," Macron said.
Morawiecki, who belongs to the national-conservative PiS party, is "a right-wing anti-Semite" who makes life difficult for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals.
Macron also accused Morawiecki of supporting French right-wing politician Marine Le Pen, whom he had received several times.
"Let's not be naive: Today he wants to help her before the elections."
After Macron's statement, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau summoned the French ambassador for talks.
This is reported by the Polish newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza", citing a spokeswoman for the ministry.
Le Pen is Macron's main challenger in the French presidential election, which begins this Sunday.
The race for the presidency seems closer than expected these days.
In some polls, presidential candidate Le Pen is suddenly predicted to have a chance of winning, albeit slim.
The outbreak of the war in Ukraine initially meant that leading western politicians hardly wanted to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Macron continued to call him.
The crisis initially helped the incumbent in the election campaign.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also spoke to the Kremlin boss.
mfh/dpa
