In the press - Legislative in France: "A major setback for Emmanuel Macron"

The +

On the front page of the press, the reactions to the second round of legislative elections in France, where the presidential camp lost the absolute majority in the national assembly.

Less than two months after the presidential election, voters said "no" to Emmanuel Macron, who had asked for a "solid" majority to govern.

An “earthquake”, according to

, which already sees France “blocked”, and the current government “condemned”.

The free

talks about a "cold shower" for the Head of State, now "caught in a vice" between the Nupes, the left-wing alliance that has become the main opposition force and the National Rally, whose breakthrough in the assembly is historic, with nearly 90 deputies, against 8 in 2017. "The slap", title

.

According to the newspaper, the president "pays for his strategy of dodging", during the campaign, but the voters would also have sanctioned what is "the very essence of macronism": "his claim to suck up the left and the right" - a position which "will have finally contributed to nourishing radical or extreme oppositions".

At the end of these legislative elections, no camp has an absolute majority in the assembly.

evokes a political landscape “shattered”, but also “barred by the fog of massive abstention”, nearly 54%.

The newspaper is concerned that this lack of clarity could lead to political instability, while France must face "huge challenges": war in Europe, global warming, or even rising interest rates, synonymous with increased pressure on the public debt.

wonders how the president will be able to "govern the ungovernable" in the face of an assembly that risks turning into a "bubbling cauldron of passions".

Is a coalition agreement with the right possible?

Will it be necessary “to identify, on a case-by-case basis, majorities with variable geometry”?

The newspaper already evokes the risk, for Emmanuel Macron, "to remain in history as the helpless spectator of a five-year term that died before it even began".

"Eight weeks after his re-election, Emmanuel Macron will need to find allies to govern": according to

, "the danger that awaits is (now) that of immobility, which France had known under the Fourth Republic" .

In Germany, the

sees in the results of these legislative elections a "sanction in the style of Emmanuel Macron", this young president "who too often flouted parliament" during his first term by taking his decisions alone, in a small circle", without keeping its "promise to strengthen the national assembly".

The German daily also notes that the head of state "avoided substantive debates" during the campaign, marked by several controversies, accusations of rape against the Minister of Solidarity Damien Abad, re-elected despite these allegations, and chaos during the Champions League final at the Stade de France – controversies which would have “increased mistrust” towards the presidential camp, according to the German newspaper.

In Lebanon,

emphasizes the "weakening" of Emmanuel Macron, but also "the historic breakthrough of the far right", presented as "a major setback" for the president, "who will have to find alliances to implement his reform program ".

The foreign press is also wondering about how the president will be able to govern.

The Swiss newspaper

evokes a "threat of paralysis", and even a risk of "monster blockages" for this second term.

The daily draws a parallel between today's situation and that imposed on François Mitterrand after his re-election in 1988. At the time, his prime minister, Michel Rocard, had governed without an absolute majority.

Emmanuel Macron will also have to seek alliances with other political forces, with the possibility that “slingers who will judge (his) policy too right or too left” emerge.

In Belgium, in

speaks of a "nightmare" for Emmanuel Macron, accused of having "played with fire".

“He dreamed of being a strong President, he must now turn into a firefighter to save what can be saved”, stings the newspaper – which judges the results of these legislative elections “also worrying for Europe”.

"With France waking up ungovernable, it is the only nuclear power in the Union that is weakened":

wonders "how France is going to position itself in the current major crises, the war in Ukraine, the economic recovery and the environmental crisis, with such a divided Assembly which has probably never been so anti-European".

Find the Press Review every morning on France 24 (Monday to Friday, at 7:20 a.m. and 9:20 a.m. Paris time).

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