UNITED STATES
A defeat for Putin
On the other side of the Atlantic, the presidential election was scrutinized with anxiety: the White House feared a breach in Western unity against Russia in the event of Le Pen’s victory. But, as pointed out by Washington Post, “Emmanuel Macron has dismissed the threat that the far right will overthrow Europe and its relations with Moscow”. The American newspaper believes that this re-election “offers continuity to France and five years of political stability to a European Union shaken by years of onslaught by the populist far right, by Brexit, a migration crisis and now war. in Ukraine”.
EUROPEAN UNION
Phew of relief in Brussels
The defeat of Marine Le Pen reassured the European institutions. From Brussels, congratulations poured in at record speed for the re-elected president, but “this result also carries a warning message for the EU and NATO”, warns Politico. The news site points out that, “in the midst of the Russian war against Ukraine, with videos of bombarded cities on television every day, a huge part of the French electorate turned to a candidate who supports an alliance with Moscow and had promised to leave NATO’s integrated command in the event of victory”.
GERMANY
For Le Pen, a defeat that looks like a victory
Behind the relief points across the Rhine concern at the crumbling of the Republican front. “Le Pen was able to increase its vote share by 8% compared to 2017”, notes Der Spiegel. In this sense, “her defeat is also secretly a victory. Despite her extreme right positions, she is today considered in France as a woman politician like the others”, continues the German magazine, which also underlines the strong abstention: “Many French people did not identify with the two candidates in this second round”.
CHINA
Western anxiety
Faced with its own challenges, China paid little attention to the French election. the GlobalTimes is surprised thus to see “the West, led by the United States, watching the results very closely, followed with anxiety by the Western media and Wall Street”. The Communist Party newspaper appeals to experts all going in the same direction: Washington fears that Paris will turn its back on it. “It’s as if Europe and the United States were more worried about the election than France itself, believes the Chinese daily. As if they thought that a single ‘Trump’ had created enough problems.”
RUSSIA
Le Pen sunk by “military operation” in Ukraine
According to the newspaper Kommersant, the war started by Vladimir Putin offered his re-election to Emmanuel Macron. “The special military operation against Ukraine and our threats against NATO have transformed the politicians who once defended Russia into ‘Kremlin lackeys’, writes the daily’s Paris correspondent. Marine Le Pen has suffered from it.” In addition, the conflict would have allowed the French president “to make Moscow responsible” for the economic situation of the country and “for the increasingly significant shortages of agricultural products and energy resources”, estimates the Russian publication.
UK
The Paris-London relationship put to the test
Boris Johnson may say he is “happy to continue working” with Emmanuel Macron, the task promises to be complicated as mistrust dominates. Whether it is the post-Brexit standoff over fishing licenses, the care of migrants on both sides of the Channel or the Aukus military pact between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, which deprived France of a colossal contract signed with Canberra, the list of grievances is long. “Emmanuel Macron’s victory could announce a thaw”, but “a new cordial agreement will not happen anytime soon”, valued The Telegraph.
BURKINA FASO
Five years to “pick up the pieces”
Faced with students from the University of Ouagadougou, Emmanuel Macron promised in 2017 to overhaul France’s African policy. Five years later, the re-elected president is expected at the turn on the continent. “Everything has to be done again to seduce Lady Africa, much courted by Russian, Chinese and Turkish lovers”, warns the Burkinabé media Wakat Sera. In quasi-diplomatic rupture with Mali, which has done business with Russian mercenaries, the Elysée has a lot to do to win the battle of hearts and minds in its former “backyard”, where anti-French sentiment is rising.