Emmanuel Macron Is Good News For Europe And A Lesson For The U.S.

Never say cat before you have it in the bag ― the run-off still has to be won ― but we can sigh in relief after Emmanuel Macron beat Marine Le Pen 24.01% to 21.3% in the first round of the French Presidential elections.

After weeks of hearing about a prospective overwhelming victory for Marine Le Pen, her getting in the run-off is less brutally shocking than her father’s in 2002. At the time, French people were caught by surprise by Le Pen’s success and the outcry led to a massive victory for Jacques Chirac. The widespread expectancy that Le Pen would get into the run-off and it subsequent normalization, is in fact the most dangerous variable for run-off ― together with the fact that the vote will take place on a long weekend, and that the extreme left’s leader Jean-Luc Melanchon did not see fit to call his voters to support Macron, in a suicidal move that seems to characterize progressive parties nowadays.