"With the far-right at 40%, it shows we've got more work to do," Clement Beaune, Macron's close confident and European affairs minister said on France 2 television
Emmanuel Macron may have seen off far-right leader Marine Le Pen, but his second term could be even rockier than the first with mounting political opposition and boiling social discontent.
As supporters savoured a hard-won victory at a rally by the Eiffel Tower on Sunday, his lieutenants were already going around TV studios and acknowledging that Le Pen's unprecedentedly high score -- as much as 42% according to estimates -- meant Macron will have to draw lessons from it.
"With the far-right at 40%, it shows we've got more work to do," Clement Beaune, Macron's close confident and European affairs minister said on France 2 television. His health minister, Olivier Veran, said a "change of method" was needed, with more consultation.
The next hurdle is only a few weeks ahead. Parliamentary elections in June will define the make-up of the government Macron must rely on to see through reform plans that would be an unprecedented shake-up of France's welfare state.
Newly elected presidents can usually expect to get a majority in parliament whenever legislative elections directly follow the presidential vote because of the generally low turnout among supporters of all the defeated candidates.
However, in her concession speech, Le Pen sounded defiant, promising a strong opposition bloc in parliament. Hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon has his mind set on becoming prime minister after securing the bulk of the left-wing vote in the first round.
Melenchon hopes to carry that momentum into the parliamentary elections and force Macron into an awkward and stalemate-prone "cohabitation" with him in charge of a left-wing majority.
Even if Macron allies do get a majority or a workable coalition pact, he will also have to deal with resistance in the streets to his reform plans, notably a pension reform that would gradually raise the minimum age to 65 from 62.
Comments