'Macron's failure': European media react to French vote

A day after the far right made striking gains in the first round of France's parliamentary elections, media outlets across Europe on Monday pointed to "failures" to prevent the National Rally's surge (RN).

The far-right party topped the polls Sunday, securing 33 percent of the vote.

- 'Macronism buried' -

German media slammed French President Emmanuel Macron, three weeks after he threw the country's politics into disarray with his decision to call snap polls.

Conservative newspaper Die Welt argued that "the election buried Macronism" and the president's miscalculated "either me or chaos" strategy, while leftist newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung blamed Macron's "gamble" that "opened the door to the far right."

If the party -- formerly called the National Front (FN) and co-founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen in the 1970s -- takes power it would "be (Macron's) failure, his fault," Suddeutsche Zeitung wrote.

Macron's "optimism and self-glorification clash with the pessimism of the French to such an extent that many simply want him to go," the paper added.

Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung, also a conservative publication, lambasted the French president's "reckless reaction to the European elections," warning that "the country is headed for cohabitation, and perhaps toward deadlock of its political system."

If the RN obtains an absolute majority in the July 7 runoff, party chief Jordan Bardella, Marine Le Pen's 28-year-old protege with no governing experience, could become prime minister in a tense "cohabitation" with Macron.

"France could be absent from the EU and NATO for years," the paper said. "Russia would like that."

- Macron 'humiliated' -

"French right humiliates Macron": The Times in Britain reported on its front page, while tabloid The Daily Mail wrote that the leader had "opened the door to economic and political instability."

In Italy -- led by far-right Primer Minister Giorgia Meloni -- Il Corriere della Sera was scathing: "History will decide whether Macron was the man who delayed this disturbing metamorphosis or the one who handed France to the new right."

The centre-left daily La Repubblica and the Turin newspaper La Stampa however, noted that "nothing is done yet," welcoming announcements from some candidates that said they would withdraw from the election to counter the National Rally.

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