MACRON WINS PRESIDENCY, MUCH TO EUROPEAN ALLIES’ RELIEF
Emmanuel Macron was elected French president on Sunday with a business-friendly vision of European integration, defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right nationalist who threatened to take France out of the European Union.
The centrist’s emphatic victory, which also smashed the dominance of France’s mainstream parties, will bring huge relief to European allies who had feared another populist upheaval to follow Britain’s vote to quit the EU and Donald Trump’s election as US president.
The euro currency, hit a sixmonth high against the dollar while Asian shares gained and US stocks briefly touched a record high.
With virtually all votes counted, Macron had topped 66 per cent against just under 34 per cent for Le Pen.
“I know the divisions in our nation, which have led some to vote for the extremes. I respect them,” Macron said in an address at his campaign headquarters, shown live on television. “I know the anger, the anxiety, the doubts that very many of you have also expressed. It’s my responsibility to hear them,” he said. “I will work to recreate the link between Europe and its peoples, between Europe and citizens.” His immediate challenge will be to secure a majority in next month’s parliamentary election for a political movement that is barely a year old, rebranded as La Republique En Marche (“Onward the Republic”), in order to implement his programme.
Outgoing president Francois Hollande, who brought Macron into politics, said the result “confirms that a very large majority of our fellow citizens wanted to unite around the values of the Republic and show their attachment to the European Union”.
Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, told Macron: “I am delighted that the ideas you defended of a strong and progressive Europe, which protects all its citizens, will be those that you will carry into your presidency.” Macron spoke by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with whom he hopes to revitalise the FrancoGerman axis at the heart of the EU, saying he planned to visit Berlin shortly.
Trump tweeted his congratulations on Macron’s “big win”, saying he looked forward to working with him. Chinese President Xi Jinping said China was willing to help push SinoFrench ties to a higher level, according to state news agency Xinhua.
“Fading political risk in France adds to the chance that eurozone economic growth can surprise to the upside this year,” said Holger Schmieding, an analyst at Berenberg Bank.
Despite having served briefly in Hollande’s deeply unpopular Socialist government, Macron managed to portray himself as the man to revive France’s fortunes by recasting a political landscape moulded by the left-right divisions of the past century.
Macron’s party changed its name on Monday in preparation for the elections to the National Assembly in June.
The En Marche! party will now be called Republique en Marche, or Republic on the Move, party Secretary General Richard Ferrand said at a press conference in Paris. The group will announce the 577 candidates for the parliamentary seats on Thursday.
He plans to blend a big reduction in public spending and a relaxation of labour laws with greater investment in training and a gradual reform of the unwieldy pension system.