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Bloomberg
Emmanuel Macron won another crack at convincing the French public that his pro-business, pro-European vision can work for them, after beating nationalist rival Marine Le Pen in the election.
While voters rallied around to give the 44-year-old centrist a second term, many backed him to keep Le Pen out rather than because of their enthusiasm for his project. His margin of victory — 58.5% to 41.5% — was barely more than half of what it had been in 2017.
“Many of our compatriots have voted for me today, not to support the ideas I represent, but to stand in the way of those of the far right,†Macron said at a victory rally at the Eiffel Tower.
The president came to power promising a revolution in Europe’s second-largest economy. But after a flurry of action in his first year in office, his reform drive was slowed by protests and brought to a halt by the Covid pandemic. There was more discontent in the country at the end of his term than there had been at the beginning.