Macron’s return as French President is a victory for everyone who believes in a stable Europe

Europe and the world took a sigh of relief on Sunday night when French president Emmanuel Macron retained his chair, albeit with a lower vote share, It was a bitterly contested poll in which his ultra-right rival Le Pen tried to mobilize voters on the promise of introducing prgrammes and policies that the civilized world loathed, to say the least. Macron’s victory shows that at a time when the world is faced with a prolonged war in Ukraine, France has its reasons to give thumbs down to Le Pen whose dislike for NATO, European Union, and his hostility towards the United States is not hidden from anyone. Le Pen would have also disturbed the social fabric of France where no one was discriminated against for belonging to a minority community, especially Islam. Her victory would have given emboldened attempts to fan Islamophobia across the world. Le Pen’s victory would have been a big setback for the efforts made by the European Union and the USA to put pressure on Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine. Pen has not made any secret of her endorsement of Putin’s policies and even visited him in Kremlin in 2017.

Reflecting the European leaders’ concern , German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote an article in France’s largest-selling daily La Monde, making a case for a vote for Macron. This is seen as an unusual step, and some might argue even interference in the politics of another country. But the German chancellor was more concerned about the future of Europe than his own criticism. Scholz and two other diplomates wrote: “It is the choice between a Democratic candidate, who believes that France is stronger in a powerful and autonomous European Union, and a far-right candidate, who openly sides with those who attack our freedom and our democracy.” They may have succeeded in persuading the voters to reject Le Pen, but the gutsy woman will continue to mobilize people to drag the French politics towards the extremist fringe. Her success in bagging 42 percent vote share against 32 percent in 2017 is a clear reflection of her growing acceptance. From India’s point of view, the return of Macron is welcome development Prime Minister Nagendra Modi and Macron share great chemistry. and France has all along been helpful to India in various fields, including supply of weapons and technology.