diff --git a/setuptools/dist.py b/setuptools/dist.py
index 6b97ed33c5..653688fdf3 100644
--- a/setuptools/dist.py
+++ b/setuptools/dist.py
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ def parse_config_files(self, filenames=None):
         and loads configuration.
 
         """
-        _Distribution.parse_config_files(self, filenames=filenames)
+        Distribution_parse_config_files.parse_config_files(self, filenames=filenames)
 
         parse_configuration(self, self.command_options)
         if getattr(self, 'python_requires', None):
diff --git a/setuptools/py36compat.py b/setuptools/py36compat.py
index f527969645..c657a29c5b 100644
--- a/setuptools/py36compat.py
+++ b/setuptools/py36compat.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
+import io
 import sys
 from distutils.errors import DistutilsOptionError
 from distutils.util import strtobool
 from distutils.debug import DEBUG
+from setuptools.extern import six
 
 
 class Distribution_parse_config_files:
@@ -13,10 +15,10 @@ class Distribution_parse_config_files:
     as implemented in distutils.
     """
     def parse_config_files(self, filenames=None):
-        from configparser import ConfigParser
+        from setuptools.extern.six.moves.configparser import ConfigParser
 
         # Ignore install directory options if we have a venv
-        if sys.prefix != sys.base_prefix:
+        if six.PY3 and sys.prefix != sys.base_prefix:
             ignore_options = [
                 'install-base', 'install-platbase', 'install-lib',
                 'install-platlib', 'install-purelib', 'install-headers',
@@ -33,18 +35,22 @@ def parse_config_files(self, filenames=None):
         if DEBUG:
             self.announce("Distribution.parse_config_files():")
 
-        parser = ConfigParser(interpolation=None)
+        parser = ConfigParser()
         for filename in filenames:
             if DEBUG:
                 self.announce("  reading %s" % filename)
-            parser.read(filename)
+            with io.open(filename, encoding='utf-8') as fp:
+                if six.PY3:
+                    parser.read_file(fp)
+                else:
+                    parser.readfp(fp)
             for section in parser.sections():
                 options = parser.options(section)
                 opt_dict = self.get_option_dict(section)
 
                 for opt in options:
                     if opt != '__name__' and opt not in ignore_options:
-                        val = parser.get(section,opt)
+                        val = parser.get(section,opt,raw=True)
                         opt = opt.replace('-', '_')
                         opt_dict[opt] = (filename, val)
 
@@ -69,12 +75,6 @@ def parse_config_files(self, filenames=None):
                     raise DistutilsOptionError(msg)
 
 
-if sys.version_info < (3,):
-    # Python 2 behavior is sufficient
-    class Distribution_parse_config_files:
-        pass
-
-
 if False:
     # When updated behavior is available upstream,
     # disable override here.
diff --git a/setuptools/tests/test_config.py b/setuptools/tests/test_config.py
index 8bd2a49428..063d30e2ca 100644
--- a/setuptools/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/setuptools/tests/test_config.py
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
+# -*- coding: UTF-8 -*-
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 import contextlib
 import pytest
 from distutils.errors import DistutilsOptionError, DistutilsFileError
 from setuptools.dist import Distribution
 from setuptools.config import ConfigHandler, read_configuration
+from setuptools.tests import is_ascii
 
 
 class ErrConfigHandler(ConfigHandler):
@@ -26,7 +30,7 @@ def fake_env(tmpdir, setup_cfg, setup_py=None):
 
     tmpdir.join('setup.py').write(setup_py)
     config = tmpdir.join('setup.cfg')
-    config.write(setup_cfg)
+    config.write(setup_cfg.encode('utf-8'), mode='wb')
 
     package_dir, init_file = make_package_dir('fake_package', tmpdir)
 
@@ -288,6 +292,27 @@ def test_classifiers(self, tmpdir):
         with get_dist(tmpdir) as dist:
             assert set(dist.metadata.classifiers) == expected
 
+    def test_no_interpolation(self, tmpdir):
+        fake_env(
+            tmpdir,
+            '[metadata]\n'
+            'description = %(message)s\n'
+        )
+        with get_dist(tmpdir) as dist:
+            assert dist.metadata.description == '%(message)s'
+
+    skip_if_not_ascii = pytest.mark.skipif(not is_ascii, reason='Test not supported with this locale')
+
+    @skip_if_not_ascii
+    def test_non_ascii(self, tmpdir):
+        fake_env(
+            tmpdir,
+            '[metadata]\n'
+            'description = éàïôñ\n'
+        )
+        with get_dist(tmpdir) as dist:
+            assert dist.metadata.description == 'éàïôñ'
+
 
 class TestOptions: