Votes on the French election

Analysis: Economic stalemate when NPF refuses to compromise

Neither the euro, French government interest rates, nor the Paris stock exchange have reacted very much after the election results in France last Sunday, in which the left-wing alliance became the largest party.

But the country's economic problems remain – and now all the promises and the great willingness to compromise risk leading to a stalemate. That's what SvD's Johan Carlström writes in an analysis.

The alliance NPF wants to raise wages, lower the retirement age and pay for children's education with increased taxes. However, the probability of getting one's way through without a majority is "equal to zero", writes Carlström.

The Financial Times' Sylvie Kauffmann notes that left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon quickly determined that the alliance would implement "its entire program and only its program" and refuse to cooperate with other groups.

“So much for compromise.”

Finally, she writes that Keir Starmer's victory in Great Britain shows that a credible centre-left solution can bear fruit, but that several likely scenarios in France seem far less reassuring.

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Analysis: Seducer Macron only listens to himself

Emmanuel Macron's dramatic and risk-taking personality caused him to suddenly trigger the new election that is now dividing French politics, writes Politico in an analytical personal portrait.

Macron has a magnetic charm, wants to be liked by everyone, surrounds himself with a staff of young men but listens to no one but himself. He feels trapped in the presidential palace and usually wanders the streets of Paris at night. This is how Politico's reporter describes Macron after following the president closely and interviewing several people around him.

"He is the great seducer, he wants to seduce everyone," says an anonymous source in Macron's inner circle.

Bloomberg columnist Lionel Laurent also shares the image of a risk-taking – but also a strategic – political player. He writes that Macron took a big risk but managed to weaken the position of "arch-enemy Le Pen".

Through the new election, he has now "gone from king to kingmaker", he writes, referring to Macron's role in appointing the country's next prime minister.