PARIS (AP) — Michael Roth, Germany’s deputy foreign minister, says the result was marred by right wing candidate Marine Le Pen getting 11 million votes.

Roth, whose portfolio includes Franco-German relations, told public broadcaster ARD on Monday that “it mustn’t become normal that right-wing extremists and populists achieve such strong results.”

He says Germany had in the past “too often behaved like the teacher toward France” and suggested relaxing European Union rules on state spending to allow France to boost economic growth.

Roth says that “if Macron fails then the next president will be Marine Le Pen and we need to prevent this at all cost.”