Former President Barack Obama is also scheduled to be in Germany for another officially nonpolitical event with the German chancellor at the end of May. | Getty Obama wades into French election fight

Former President Barack Obama gently waded back into international politics on Thursday, talking by phone with French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.

Macron is the center-left candidate, and the leading contender to stop far-right Marine Le Pen from winning in either Sunday's first round or the subsequent runoff.


Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said "an endorsement was not the purpose of the call, as President Obama is not making any formal endorsement."

A source familiar said that Macron had sought the call. He's hoping to preserve France's pro-European Union bent, in line with Obama's vision of global politics — and opposed to President Donald Trump's. Le Pen had meetings in Trump Tower during the transition and has since traveled to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin.

"President Obama appreciated the opportunity to hear from Mr. Macron about his campaign and the important upcoming presidential election in France, a country that President Obama remains deeply committed to as a close ally of the United States, and as a leader on behalf of liberal values in Europe and around the world," Lewis said.

Macron released video of his side of the call in a tweet reading in English, “Let’s keep defending our progressive values. Thank you for this discussion@BarackObama.”

“The main message I have is to wish you all the best in the coming days, and make sure, as you said, you work hard all the way through—because you never know, it might be that last day of campaigning that makes all the difference,” Obama told him.

Macron, clearly excited about getting to have the call, quickly responds. “I will do my best, believe me. So I will fight to the last minute, and we will keep in touch, and our teams will realize and organize a new contact and see how to work together if I’m getting to the run-off," he said.

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Obama remains popular in Europe, but he's yet to demonstrate any transferability of that into electoral wins, including when he came out heavily against Brexit in advance of last year's vote, at the urging of then-Prime Minister David Cameron. Last November, traveling in Berlin the week after Trump won, Obama was asked whether he'd back Chancellor Angela Merkel in her own reelection this fall, and he said he'd support her.

“If I were here and I were German, and I had a vote, I might support her,” Obama said then. “But I don’t know whether that hurts or helps.”

But he's scheduled to be back in Germany for another officially nonpolitical event with Merkel at the end of May.