The world’s media largely hailed the thumping victory of pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron in France’s presidential election, but sounded a note of caution about the task ahead.
Here is some early global reaction from the press on Macron’s victory over far right rival Marine Le Pen to become the country’s youngest ever president.
The Financial Times hailed Macron’s win but cautioned that “Macron’s victory is incomplete” and warned that the electoral race “legitimized the French far right as never before.”
“If Mr. Macron should stumble, it is altogether unclear what solution might keep Ms Le Pen at bay in 2022,” the paper wrote.
The Guardian similarly warned of a tough road ahead but also saluted French voters, saying they had made Europe safer through their choice of Macron.
“French voters have averted the catastrophe of a Marine Le Pen presidency. The task for Emmanuel Macron is to deliver change, prosperity, unity and healing,” the paper wrote.
An early edition front page of Liberation, the left-leaning French newspaper, simply declared “Well played,” alongside a portrait of Macron.
“Macron elected,” it said on its website, alongside several pictures of the 39-year-old. “I will do all I can to be worthy of your trust and confidence,” it quoted Macron as saying.
Le Monde’s website carried Macron’s picture in the foreground, with defeated rival Le Pen in shadow. “I will defend France, its vital interests. Its image,” its headline quoted him saying.
Conservative German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said “Europe has avoided the nightmare.”
“The unthinkable has been avoided: France will not be led by a woman of the far-right. The clear victory of Emmanuel Macron provides reassurance, but Europe must not be under any illusions.”
Left-wing daily Tageszeitung wrote that “the clear victory of Emmanuel Macron is an enormous relief for France.”
The New York Times said in an editorial that Macron’s “was a victory of hope and optimism over fear and reaction; of a future in Europe rather than in resentful isolation.”
But it noted the challenges facing Macron: “He is taking charge of a nation deeply divided, much like the US, Britain and other major democracies, with many people feeling marginalized by globalization, economic stagnation, an unresponsive government, unemployment, faceless terrorism and a tide of immigrants.”
In an opinion piece for Fox News, Executive Editor John Moody said “France has taken the easy way out, and voted for more of the same.”
He added: “(Macron) wants France to stay in the EU and continue its open borders policy that has brought thousands of Muslim immigrants to France. When asked what he would do about Islamic terrorism, candidate Macron said: ‘This threat will be a fact of daily life in the coming years.’ How’s that for taking decisive action?“
The Washington Post said France had “shrugged off the siren call of right-wing populism that enchanted voters in the US and United Kingdom.”
In an editorial, Chinese daily Global Times hailed Macron’s victory as a win against a “populism trend” following US President Donald Trump’s election last year.
“It may be too early to conclude that today’s peak of popularism in world politics is beginning to wane,” the nationalist newspaper said.
“Years later when we look back upon this election, we may find that France made a wise choice for human civilization in helping to keep it moving forward at such a crucial time, rather than setting it back,” it said.
The business daily Vedomosti said France had chosen “the candidate that most represented the principles of The Fifth Republic: of an elite qualified to engage in European integration.”
The online newspaper Gazeta.ru pictured Macron addressing French voters, saying the incoming president would “have to respond to the demands for change.”
El Pais declared on its homepage: “France chooses Macron and restrains populism,” saying in an editorial that the result “restrains the wave of populist discontent that triumphed in November in the US presidential elections and before the UK referendum.”
Public television commented on the “importance” of Macron’s victory but also pointed to the high abstention rate.
The online edition of Greek daily Kathimerini hailed Macron’s “impressive victory.”
Le Temps carried pictures of joyous Macron supporters on its website and said the election’s principal outcome was that France had chosen “a new man to begin its transformation.”

Source: Arab News