Paris looks to parliamentary elections
Putin wishes Macron ‘good health’
4/25/2022 3:36 p.m
After his election victory, the French President collects international greetings. Kremlin boss Putin also wishes Macron success and “good health”. The losing right is unlikely to forge an alliance for the general elections in June.
The day after French President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected, eyes are already on June’s general election. Macron will personally decide on the candidates for elections on June 12 and 19, Franceinfo reported. Election posters and brochures have already been prepared. Before the election, there should be a meeting of all candidates supported by Macron’s party in Paris, it said.
Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire has meanwhile announced that fuel subsidies will be adjusted. “We will keep support on fuel prices as prices are still very high,” Le Maire said. However, the aid should be “more efficient” and primarily benefit those who rely on their car and have lower incomes. During the election campaign, the issue of purchasing power was occupied primarily by Marine Le Pen, who lost the election but did better than ever.
In the right-wing camp, despite the militant appearance of the defeated candidate Le Pen, there is currently no sign of an alliance between the two wings. The far-right ex-candidate Eric Zemmour had called for an electoral alliance the night before, but smugly pointed out “that the name Le Pen is associated with defeat for the eighth time”. Louis Aliot, deputy leader of Le Pen’s Rassemblement National party, then recommended that he “get off his high horse”. “I don’t see how there could be an alliance with Zemmour’s Reconquete party,” he said. It has been heard from those close to Le Pen that she does not want to take over the party leadership again, which she had handed over to Jordan Bardella at the beginning of the election campaign.
Putin sends a telegram
Meanwhile, Macron was accepting congratulations from all over the world, starting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was the first foreign head of government to call him on Sunday evening. US President Joe Biden said on Twitter that he looks forward to “continuing close cooperation – particularly in supporting Ukraine, defending democracy and fighting climate change”. The Presidents of Ukraine and China, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Xi Jinping also congratulated him on his election.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also congratulated Macron. “I sincerely wish you success in your state activities and good health,” Putin wrote in a telegram to Macron, the Kremlin said. Relations between Paris and Moscow are extremely strained because of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. Macron had called Putin several times in the past few weeks without any result.
A woman as prime minister?
Macron will put together his new government team next week. Former Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne is under discussion as Prime Minister, she would be the second woman ever to hold this post. The French President’s first trip abroad is traditionally to Berlin, but no date has yet been announced.
Macron prevailed in the runoff with 58.5 percent against the right-wing populist Le Pen. It is the first time since 2002 that a French president has been confirmed in office. The gap to Le Pen was smaller than in 2017 and 2002, when Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie surprisingly got into the runoff against Jacques Chirac. Abstention was around 28 percent, the highest level since 1969.