The West is relieved by Macron’s victory, but a record far-right vote foreshadows a future threat

Emmanuel Macron has been re-elected as France’s president for a second term, making him the first person to do so since 2002.

His triumph over right-wing competitor Marine Le Pen by a reasonably comfortable margin of 58.5 percent to 41.5 percent will be welcomed with a big sigh of relief in France’s most important allies’ capital cities, particularly in Brussels, the European Union and NATO’s headquarters.

While Macron was always the favourite to win this election, many observers saw the Russian invasion of Ukraine as highlighting the necessity for Western unity in the face of aggressive aggression. This solidarity has remained more or less intact among NATO members and the EU during the crisis, but authorities were concerned that a Le Pen triumph would jeopardise the trans-Atlantic partnership. Le Pen appears to have been created with the intention of being the last person in the Western alliance to run a country as important as France.
France is a member of NATO, the European Union, and the Group of Seven. It is a nuclear power with a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Despite its strong roots in these pillars of the Western system, France has always preferred an independent foreign policy, allowing it to operate as a go-between between the US-led Western order and countries like Iran, China, and Russia.

Because of Le Pen’s historical links to Russia, her scepticism of NATO, and her hostility toward the EU, her win would have shaken cages all over the world. However, if the estimates are true, the magnitude of Macron’s triumph tonight would mean that many French friends’ celebrations will be cut short. Macron’s margin of victory is now significantly less than it was in 2017, when he easily defeated Le Pen with 66 percent of the vote.
Despite the fact that beating the far-right for the second election is a huge success for Macron, France’s friends will be acutely aware that over 42% of French voters backed someone who opposes so much of what they believe in.