The turnout was relatively low and the radical right gained ground again, but for Brussels only the end result counted. With Emmanuel Macron’s victory over Marine Le Pen, the European Union escapes an existential crisis at a time when European unity in the confrontation with Vladimir Putin is indispensable. France remains in NATO’s military command structure and the EU can move forward for another five years with an outspoken pro-European leader in one of its key member states.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel were quick to congratulate them on Sunday evening. “In these troubled times, we need a strong Europe and a France that is fully committed to a more sovereign and strategic European Union,” Michel wrote on Twitter. Scholz called Macron’s re-election “a strong pro-European signal”. Ukraine’s President Zelensky called Macron “a true friend”.
call
Just before the second round of the presidential elections, the centre-left leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal had urged French voters in French newspapers not to vote for Le Pen. Right-wing nationalists, wrote Scholz and Prime Ministers Pedro Sánchez and António Costa, have adopted the Russian aggressor’s thinking and copied his attacks on democratic values.
“Europe is on the eve of a new era. In an attempt to rewrite history, Vladimir Putin has launched a brutal attack on Ukraine and its people. His war is against the values that France and our countries defend: democracy, sovereignty, freedom and the rule of law. (…) Nevertheless, the populists and the far right in all our countries have made Vladimir Putin an ideological and political model, following his nationalist ideas. They copied his attacks on minorities and diversity. They share his dream of a unified nation. We must not forget this.”
Le Pen, who won 41.5% of the vote in the second round, wants France to leave NATO’s military structure. She also planned to radically change the European Union from within. Pro-European politicians feared a new EU-critical pact in the Union – of France with Poland and Hungary, two countries that are regularly at loggerheads with the EU.
Although Le Pen has expressly distanced himself from the Russian attack on Ukraine, he previously accepted a loan from a Russian bank and hoped to re-establish ties with Putin after the war. In a TV debate shortly before the election, Macron told Le Pen that when she speaks with Putin, she is not speaking a world leader, but her banker.
Macron, who scored seven percentage points less than in 2017 at 58.5 percent, had called the election a “referendum on Europe”. During his victory speech on Sunday evening, he acknowledged that he had not only won thanks to his pro-European stance. “I know that many voted for me today to oppose the ideas of right-wing extremists and not to support mine.”
Read one here profile of macron by NRC correspondent Floor Bouma
Globalization
Macron took the stage to the sounds of Beethoven’s Ode to the Joy, the European anthem, with which he also celebrated his victory in 2017. In the confrontation with Le Pen, Macron also opted for an expressly pro-European course in this election campaign and not for tactical Euroscepticism in the hope of picking voters on the right side. For Macron, European cooperation is the only right answer to the challenges of globalization. Macron’s lesson is not to bow to bitter voters, but to fight for your ideas. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).
While Le Pen aspires to a loose alliance of nation states, Macron wants to make a case for more European cooperation, possibly in small groups of like-minded EU member states. The EU should also get more of its own revenue and democratic control should be improved.
Whether Macron can achieve much in the coming years also depends on Berlin’s attitude. The question is also for Macron whether the Zeitenwende which Scholz says he has ushered in, will actually come, the FAZ noted. If Scholz succeeds in providing Germany with a serious military force and a strong foreign policy, it would speed up Franco-German cooperation.
The leeway of the new president is also determined by the parliamentary elections in June. In his first term, Macron had a majority in parliament. If he manages to do that again – that’s not a race – then he can become the most powerful leader in Europe. Especially if the German three-party coalition of Scholz remains as restless as it is now, with open disagreements about energy embargoes and the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine.