German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is one of those expressing relief at the result:
“It would have been a big challenge if the French president had been forced to cooperate with a right-wing populist party,” he says.
Elections in France 2024
The day after the election in France – it’s happening now
Chaos in Paris after the French election
Scholz’s colleague, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, also welcomes the victory of the left-wing alliance NFP, but highlights that there are still problems in France that could jeopardize the relationship with Germany.
– We can’t really blow our breath yet, he says according to Reuters.
Quiet in Sweden
Neighboring Spain’s Social Democratic Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is also happy about the election results.
“Both Great Britain and France have this week said YES to progress and NO to setbacks against freedoms and rights,” he writes on X.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signs on X:
“Enthusiasm in Paris, disappointment in Moscow, relief in Kiev. Enough to be happy in Warsaw.”
The Swedish party leaders, however, have been sparing with comments about the election results. The only one who has spoken out so far is the Left Party’s Nooshi Dadgostar, who congratulates the “colleagues of the French left” at X.
No majority for NFP
It is not yet clear whether it will be the NFP that will be allowed to form a government. They do not have a majority of their own and are a group with a large ideological range – including both social democrats and communists.
President Macron has previously warned against the far left and a number of French left-wing politicians have been accused of, among other things, anti-Semitism in connection with the war in Gaza.
From NFP’s side, they have said that they are ready to form a government, but they have not yet presented any basis or any candidate for prime minister.