Macron’s victory: good news for Swiss leaders

The French presidential election has delivered a clear win to Emmanuel Macron. With an estimated 65.8% of the votes going to Macron, compared to 34.2% to Marine Le Pen, he is France’s new president. At the same time the election brought the highest rate of protest votes since 1969. 26% of voters abstained and 9% handed in a blank form.

Switzerland’s press and politicians largely consider the election of new French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday as good news.
Doris Leuthard, Switzerland’s president, said: “On behalf of the Swiss government I congratulate Mr Macron on his election as president of the French Republic. Switzerland and France are linked by a common language and shared values of liberty and democracy. Based on this I am convinced that we will continue our good neighbourly relationship and that our two countries will pursue and deepen our stable and positive cooperation.”

Federal economics minister Johann Schneider-Amman told tabloid Blick that he had previously met the new president of France and that he found him "open and respectful". 
 
"I am convinced that our relations with France can be improved even more under a Macron presidency," he said. Socialist party MP Didier Berberat summed up much of the reaction among Swiss politicians when he told news agency ATS he was “relieved that the French knew how to choose between someone who would have led France towards a dangerous adventure, and Mr Macron.”
Switzerland has a large French Diaspora, with over 127,000 people registered to vote in the presidential election in one of 19 polling stations set up on Swiss soil.

On the opposite, Yves Nidegger, a Swiss parliamentarian and member of the Swiss People’s Party (UDC / SVP), voiced pessimism. He thinks it will be very difficult for Mr Macron to successfully reform France economically and socially. “Legislators will follow their old instincts and oppose the left and the right. This is going to leave one third of the country orphaned, which is going to continue to blight the country’s politics. I think we are heading toward the self-destruction of the fifth republic.”

However, most  agreed that, unless Macron can build a majority in parliament, he won’t have an easy path ahead.