France's Emmanuel Macron wins 2nd term; what does it mean for Putin & Russia-Ukraine war?

France’s centrist President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday became the first leader in a generation to win a re-election and defeated the three-time aspirant, far-right challenger Marine Le Pen with a massive lead. Le Pen, who is a strong ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, bagged only 41.8% of the vote in the face of Macron’s 58.2% as he continued to stand up against Moscow in its war in Ukraine. With the Russia-Ukraine war entering its third month and Macron still having two more months left of the rotating six-month European Union (EU) presidency, the question arises, how would Macron’s win impact the raging war in Europe?

Macron’s re-election and the Russia-Ukraine war

Ever since Russia announced its ‘special’ operation in Ukraine on February 24, Macron had emerged as one of the world leaders leading European efforts to dismiss the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has often termed the French centrist leader as a “friend” and a “reliable partner” as Paris introduced sanctions against Russia in a bid to stall Putin’s forces from attacking Ukraine. 

The ‘true friend of Ukraine’, Macron, has even declared that France does not need Russian gas and pledged to continue to push for sanctions on Russian gas supplies. In a corresponding statement published by the French President on France 5, published last week, Macron said, “Europe depends on Russian gas, but France doesn’t need it” while adding that his government was working to buy gas from other markets. This indicates that Russia would continue to face France's resistance to the war in Ukraine. Putin has been largely targetted by the West including the United States and the European nations, for attacking Ukrainian cities since late February.

It is pertinent to note here that French voters fell short of supporting Le Pen, who pledged to rip up the economy and pivot France ever closer to Russia. In a two-hour televised debate on Wednesday, Macron had called out Le Pen over her previous links to Russia and Putin while accusing the far-right challenger of being dependent on Moscow. Now, following the Sunday win, macron pledged that he would find a response to the anger of voters who supported his rival in elections. 

French President said that his new term would not continue unchanged from the last five years. During the victory rally in front of the Eiffel Tower after projections showed that he had been re-elected, Macron said, “An answer must be found to the anger and disagreements that led many of our compatriots to vote for the extreme right. It will be my responsibility and that of those around me”. He went on to claim that the country would be governed by a “renewed method”. He said a “new era” would not be one of “continuity with the last term which is now ending".

Celebrating the boycott of far-right politics out of EU leaders’ table, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Switzerland President Ignazio Cassis, Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson among others hailed Macron’s re-election especially when the entire bloc is rallying support for Ukraine. Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store also celebrated France for choosing “liberal democracy over the far-right”.

Image: AP