concern dominates the international press the day after the first round

Following the first round of legislative elections in France, the international press reacted on Monday with concern to the National Rally’s score and was critical of the French head of state.

“An election that alarms all of Europe“, wrote the American newspaper on Monday July 1 Politico the day after the first round of legislative elections in France. Politico even explains fearing a “destructive outcome for the world order” seen “France’s leadership in the European Union, its seat on the United Nations Security Council and the extent of its military power“.

“The far-right National Rally poised to become the dominant French party“, headlines the British daily The Guardian which, for its readers, looks at the history of the National Front, a party considered for decades as “a danger to democracy, promoting racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim opinions“and who counted,”At the beginning, its ranks included former members of a Waffen-SS military unit“.

For the Spanish daily The Country“France, cradle of the Europe of Human Rights and Enlightenment, now has a week to decide whether it should put the Eurosceptic and nationalist far right in power, or whether it should stop its rise with a heterogeneous coalition, ranging from the radical left to the moderate right“.

The BBC correspondent in Paris commented on Monday morning and for him the French president did not need to call this election: “It is a gamble that now threatens to overturn the political order and could put an end to Emmanuel Macron’s centrist experiment.“. Even more severe, the Washington Post quotes former French ambassador to the United States, Gérard Araud, who compares the French president “to Napoleon, when the emperor launched his failed campaign to invade Russia, in 1812“.

Still very harsh words coming, this time, from the British weekly. The Economist, who speaks of a crushing humiliation for the head of state. “Many of his own deputies and closest allieswrites the newspaper, sensing imminent annihilation, were dismayed by his decision to call early elections. What is clear from this first round is that Mr. Macron’s centrist project and the president’s political authority will emerge seriously damaged from these elections.“.