The first round of the election for the President of France doesn’t bode well for Macron. Many people in France decided to vote for the hard right ( Le Pen and Zemmour) and the hard left (Mélenchon) and in the process severely affecting the traditional mainstream right (The Republicans) and the equally traditional mainstream left (The Socialist Party).

Every European who believes that an ever closer European Union is the only way forward and  even the only possible future for Europe and the EU should root for President Macron and hope that France and Europe are spared the very untimely and probably negative experience of Madame Le Pen being President. This French election does matter, not only for France; it matters hugely for the whole of Europe, for every European from Lisboa to Tallinn and from Dublin to Nicosia. Never before has the choice been so clear between a truly committed European leader as President Macron who really tried to move the EU forward to an ever more closer union and a pure French nationalist of the hard right in the person of Madame Le Pen.

In Europe we currently witness the brutal unprovoked attack on the Ukraine and its people by a Russia under the leadership of KGB-officer Putin who stands for no democracy, no free press, no rule of law, no fundamental human rights whatsoever.

France in this perspective, could be perceived as maybe the only nation within the EU to be politically and militarily strong enough to lead Europe at the moment, which makes a victory for President Macron a  must for everyone who wishes Europe and its Western civilisation well.

Let’s hope that many people of France who abstained, who voted for the decimated Republicans and Socialist Party or who voted for the hard Right and hard Left, will come to understand what a  risk a President Le Pen would be for France and for the whole of Europe.