PARIS — Officers throughout Europe swiftly reacted with a sigh of aid on Sunday after President Emmanuel Macron of France comfortably beat his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen, within the presidential election.
“Collectively, we’ll advance France and Europe,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Fee, the European Union’s government arm, wrote in French on Twitter.
Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, wrote on Twitter that “we will depend on France for 5 extra years,” whereas Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany mentioned Mr. Macron’s re-election was a “vote of confidence in Europe.”
Mr. Macron’s workplace mentioned on Sunday that Mr. Scholz had known as Mr. Macron to congratulate him. “It’s the first name that the president has obtained and brought, an indication of Franco-German friendship,” his workplace mentioned.
At residence, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Mr. Macron’s overseas minister, advised France 2 tv that he was “satisfied” Mr. Macron can be “as much as the challenges that await.”
Remaining outcomes should not but printed, however French pollsters venture that Mr. Macron has received with roughly 58 p.c of the vote. Nonetheless, his political opponents warned that his subsequent time period must have in mind the simmering anger within the French citizens, because the far proper received extra of the vote than it has in a long time.
“There has by no means been such a vote of despair,” Christian Jacob, the top of the conservative Républicain celebration, mentioned on French tv.
Roughly 28 p.c of the French citizens sat out this spherical of the election — the best degree in over 50 years within the second spherical of a presidential vote.
“He’s floating in a sea of abstention, and clean or null ballots,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand leftist who got here in a powerful third within the first spherical of the elections early this month, mentioned in a speech on Sunday of Mr. Macron.
Mr. Mélenchon hopes to develop into prime minister if his celebration will get a powerful majority within the parliamentary elections, to be held in June. “The third spherical begins tonight,” he mentioned.
High European leaders had expressed barely veiled alarm at the potential for a Le Pen victory. Final week, the leaders of Germany, Portugal and Spain had taken the extremely uncommon step in an opinion article in Le Monde of implicitly urging French voters to reject her.
On Sunday, Christian Lindner, the finance minister in Germany, mentioned a united Europe was the largest winner. “This alternative was a directional alternative,” he wrote on Twitter. “It was about basic questions of values.”
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain welcomed Mr. Macron’s victory as proof that the French need “a free, robust and simply E.U.”
Officers outdoors of the European Union reacted, as properly.
President Volodomyr Zelensky of Ukraine additionally congratulated Mr. Macron on his victory, calling him a “actual good friend of Ukraine” on Twitter. “I recognize his help and I’m satisfied that we are going to transfer ahead collectively towards new shared victories,” he wrote.
And, Christine Lagarde, the top of the European Central Financial institution, prolonged her “warmest congratulations” to Mr. Macron.
“Sturdy management is important in these unsure occasions and your tireless dedication will probably be a lot wanted to deal with the challenges we face in Europe,” Ms. Lagarde wrote on Twitter.
And Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain tweeted that “France is certainly one of our closest and most necessary allies.”
“I sit up for persevering with to work collectively on the problems which matter most to our two international locations and to the world,” Mr. Johnson wrote.
Liz Alderman and Raphael Minder contributed reporting.
April 24, 2022
An earlier model of this text misstated the place of Christine Lagarde. She is the top of the European Central Financial institution, not the top of the Worldwide Financial Fund.
