48 · MT 3/2022 Nations in Focus The Macron election victory was greeted with a sense of profound relief by the French establishment: for them, the alternative was just too horrible to contemplate. Elsewhere in Europe, those who espouse liberal democratic values were equally relieved, none more so than the European Union (EU) in Brussels. For the EU, having a government in Paris that was On 24 April, Emmanuel Macron won the second round of the French presidential election, becoming the first sitting French president to be re-elected since Jacques Chirac in 2002. Although Macron’s margin of victory was reduced, down to 17.1%, compared to 32.2% in the 2017 election, it was still a major victory by the standards of previous contests. However, the fact that Marine Le Pen, an extreme right-wing candidate, gained 41.45% of the vote, a record for that end of the political spectrum in France, remains a concern for the establishment. Resident in Paris, with nearly four decades’ experience of the defence and security worlds, David Saw writes regularly for MilTech on a broad range of subjects. David Saw France and an EU Army? French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife at the victory celebrations after winning the presidential election on 24 April. He is the first sitting French president to be re-elected since Jacques Chirac in 2002. Now Macron wants to lead Europe into a new era. (Photo: Macron Campaign)
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