France's allies in Europe expressed relief after the far-right National Rally failed to win snap parliamentary elections – but with no other group winning a majority and protracted uncertainty looming, the celebrations were measured.
After a first round of voting one week ago, the National Rally (RN) had been favourite to top the polls, threatening to upend economic and foreign policy in the euro zone's second-largest economy.
In the end, other parties joined forces to block it in the second round on Sunday and the RN was left in third place behind alliances of the left and centre.
Left leads in French parliamentary vote, Macron's party second, National Rally third
Progressive leaders across Europe congratulated the left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front (NFP), on taking the lead just a few weeks after it was formed.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared that France, like Spain, had said "yes to progress and social advancement and no to regression in rights and freedoms".
Nikos Androulakis, the head of Greece's Socialist party, said the French public had "raised a wall against the far right, racism and intolerance and guarded the timeless principles of the French Republic: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity."
Relief for Ukraine
There was also relief for those who worried a far-right government would upend France's foreign policy in Europe.
"In Paris enthusiasm, in Moscow disappointment, in Kyiv relief. Enough to be happy in Warsaw," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on social media.
Though the RN now calls Russia a threat, its line on President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine has been ambiguous at times.
Has France's far-right National Rally really turned on Russia?
Poland and other allies of Ukraine had feared an RN government could be soft on Moscow and pare back military aid that Kyiv has relied on since the Russian invasion in 2022.
The Kremlin greeted the results with "neither hope nor any particular illusion" for an improvement in relations between Paris and Moscow. No political faction has shown a clear will to pursue that aim, said presidential spokesperson Dmitri Peskov.
Uncertainty ahead
"What we feared did not come to pass," commented a spokesperson for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday, telling a press conference that the leaders of France's biggest neighbour felt a "certain relief".
The RN's defeat signals at least a partial pushback against the far right in Europe, but with no majority in parliament, France looks set for political instability for the weeks and months to come.
The National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, is now split between three large groups with little common ground.
Nils Schmid, the foreign policy spokesperson for Scholz's Social Democrats, said the worst had been avoided – but the results were still a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron.
"The president is politically weakened, even if he retains a central role in view of the unclear majority situation. Forming a government will be complicated," Schmid told the Funke media group.
An EU official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, called it a "huge relief" but added: "What it means for Europe on a day-to-day basis remains to be seen though."
Surprise election win for left-green coalition plunges France into uncertainty
Disappointment on far right
The snap elections came as Brussels warned France it would have to make spending cuts to get back in line with EU budget rules.
In a hung parliament, those cuts now look harder to pass than ever.
The left-wing NFP, the biggest bloc but well short of a majority, has said it wants to raise the minimum wage and the salaries of public sector workers, as well as cutting income tax and social security charges for lower earners.
Its plans for the economy would see public spending reach up to 100 billion euros in 2025, which it says would be offset by tax hikes.
Its opponents on Europe's hard-right forecast doom.
"Bye bye European deficit limits! [The government] will crash in no time. Poor France. It can console itself with [Kylian] Mbappé," said Claudio Borghi, a senator from Italy's populist League party, an ally of the RN, referring to the star of France's national football team.
Meanwhile Andre Ventura, leader of Portugal's far-right party Chega, called the result a "disaster for the economy, tragedy for immigration and bad for the fight against corruption".
(with Reuters)
