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European leaders were quick to congratulate French President Emmanuel Macron for his election victory over his far-right rival on Sunday, some reflecting relief at avoiding a political shock in one of the European Union’s most pivotal countries.
European Council President Charles Michel, as well as the prime ministers of Belgium and Luxembourg, were among the first to congratulate Macron, followed by almost all of the bloc’s 27 leaders, after his win over Marine Le Pen by a comfortable margin.
“Bravo Emmanuel,” Michel wrote on Twitter. “In this turbulent period, we need a solid Europe and a France totally committed to a more sovereign and more strategic European Union.”
The prime ministers of Belgium and Luxembourg, were among the first European leaders to congratulate French President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election on Sunday. Belgium’s Alexander De Croo and Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel quickly posted congratulations on Twitter. With Michel, the two are all centrist allies of Macron.
After Britain’s surprise vote to quit the EU and the election of Donald Trump in the United States in 2016, the bloc was alarmed by Le Pen’s potentially explosive social and economic reforms, even if polls showed Macron winning in Sunday’s second round.
France, a founding member of the EU, has been at the centre of efforts to integrate Europe since the end of World War Two, even if such policies have been divisive.
Having Le Pen, a deeply eurosceptic politician who has professed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the Élysée Palace would have had huge implications for the stability of the EU, analysts and diplomats said.
Le Pen had long flirted with the idea of leaving the bloc, although she insisted she had no “secret agenda” this time for quitting the EU or the euro single…
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Source : france24
