Europe gets reprieve

> EU leaders hail Macron victory as vote for unity

BERLIN: Europe’s political establishment entered 2017 in a state of panic.

Britain had voted to leave the European Union six months before and the United States had just elected a president who was hostile to their grand project and the values it stood for.

The same forces that had led to Brexit and Donald Trump – popular anger with distant elites, economic inequality and immigration – threatened to hit the continent hard in a year in which Europe’s largest countries were holding elections.

The biggest risk of all was France, a country with an ailing economy, historic ambivalence toward the EU and a politician, in National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who seemed well positioned to seize on voter fears.

Instead, on Sunday, Le Pen was soundly defeated by Emmanuel Macron, an independent who ran on an unashamedly pro-European platform.

The 39-year-old’s victory represents a reprieve for Europe and the liberal democratic values for which it has stood for more than half a century.

The nightmare scenarios that were whispered about in European capitals in early 2017 have not materialised. Europe has been given another chance.

Those are the main messages from Macron’s victory and they were reflected in the reactions from Europe on Sunday.

“Hurrah Macron President! There is hope for Europe!” Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni tweeted.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman called it a victory for a “strong united Europe”.

But the French vote was also a warning. Le Pen’s National Front won 35% of the vote, nearly double what her father Jean-Marie secured in 2002, a result which hit the nation like an earthquake at the time, triggering a broad “Republican front” to block him.

In this election, the sense of shock and anti-Le Pen front proved far weaker.

On Sunday night, she took to a stage in Paris and called on “all patriots” to join her in opposition to the new president.

Nigel Farage, former leader of Britain’s UKIP party and a leading campaigner for Brexit, said what many in Europe may be thinking when the celebrations wear off: “If Marine sticks in there, she can win in 2022.”

Macron and his fellow European leaders face a formidable challenge over the next five years to prevent that from happening.

For his part, Macron must unite a deeply divided country and deliver on his promise to inject new life into its moribund economy by delivering jobs for young people and hope for the immigrants in depressed working class suburbs around major cities.

Former US president Barack Obama, who openly backed Macron last week and whose message of hope served as a model for the French candidate, is a cautionary tale for what can happen when some promises go unfulfilled.

“Macron has 12 to 15 months to take the necessary decisions so that the benefits are visible before the end of his term,” a senior German official said. – Reuters