Macron's presidential challenger Pecresse would say 'non' to federal EU

Valerie Pecresse, head of the Paris Ile-de-France region and Les Republicains (LR) right-wing party candidate for the 2022 French presidential election, attends a meeting following a closed-door session with party officials, in Paris, France, December 11, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

PARIS (Reuters) - The conservative candidate who has emerged as Emmanuel Macron's most serious challenger for next year's presidential election kicked off her campaign on Saturday by announcing she would resist German calls for a federal European superstate.

Valerie Pecresse, who has described herself as "1/3 Thatcher, 2/3 Merkel", was the surprise winner of the leadership contest of the conservative Les Republicains party last weekend, and has since got a big bounce in opinion polls.