French elections

Good! Ideas don't respect political borders. It's about time people woke up to what's going on just the other side of the Channel.

Suddenly French politics became interesting, a side effect of Brexit.

Turnout considered low and was something like 74% - the referendum turnout was 72% and considered OK!

Yes railman quite agree about the voice overs. Marine had a lot of support in some parts of France. Pity that many voters don't think of the bigger picture when they vote
There were a lot of people who declined to choose on their ballot paper and turnout was low. However I'm hoping that Monsieur M. will show us what can be done to improve a country. Certainly he promised a lot of good stuff in his manifesto. U.K. politicians please take note!

The croissant in the room could be that Macron is young, handsome, photogenic and has some charisma. All vote winners . Unlike some party leaders in the UK.
It shouldn't matter a jot, should it suzied!
but I must say he is rather moreish, reminds me of a French man I knew aeons ago

Mentioning no names.

The croissant in the room could be that Macron is young, handsome, photogenic and has some charisma. All vote winners . Unlike some party leaders in the UK.

I wonder how many Government front bench politicians can speak at least one other language - and why do the BBC insist on 'voice overs' for French, German or Italian politicians - at least let us hear how they speak - and use subtitles for clarity.

Wow Daphnedil - I'd seen an image of that front page before - but it does make you think doesn't it - many of our relatives, fought, were injured or died to bring a lasting peace to Europe - it is so sad to see the divisive rhetoric around today.

Happy that Macron won, as indeed most people on here seem to be.

There is clearly a lot of work to be done, but working together to improve and strengthen the EU as a whole is better than running away from the problems as the UK seems to have done.

The EU needs reform, it is not just about 'free movement', and as the massively right wing biased press in Britain would have us believe, they are not all 'unelected bureaucrats' - someone elected Nigel Farage and Paul Nuttall for instance - what positive improvement have they contributed to the growth of the EU - none obviously.

Now as an unaffiliated European country, we will soon be able to grown our one 'unelected bureaucrats' - here we seem to prefer to call them the 'Civil Service'. But doing they have the skills today to run the country?

We should bear in mind that the Government does not run the country, but shedloads of 'Sir Humphreys' - maybe that's what is called 'getting our country back'

Anyway, Mick Greenhough, the owner of that blog is a UKIP fruitloop.

No thanks quizqueen. I can't be bothered with conspiracy sites.

In your opinion Peaseblossom.

Goodness me! What a sore loser! LePen is horrendous.

Vive l'Europe!

Michel55 I totally agree with you. You're the only one talking any sense on here.

Macron can speak German he learned it especially to work with EU partners. On our side of Europe politicians learn languages. Fr Merkel, educated in the GDR and speaking fluent Russian learned English in these intervening years and can speak to Obama or Putin.
Her partner - a professor in quantum physics is hardly ever at her side. When she first appeared as Kanzlerin in Berlin he was not there. They are seen at Wagner Opera festival and at classical concerts in Berlin. They sit happily together and she says she talks to him about physics - it is so refreshing after politics!

I think Mme Macron woud be wise to keep a low profile, she has 7 GCs so she could come on GN - if she speaks English.

Macron seems fresh and vibrant powerful speaker too happy le penn didn't win!

But of course France and Germany have no choice but to work closely together, even more so now that the UK is out of the picture. I wonder which language they are going to use seeing as Juncker thinks English is no longer required in the EU. German would win hands down, so Mr Macron better start getting to grips with l'allemand.

Well quizqueen no surprise there. This might be a good time to start a small private club (or even a thread you could declare exclusive) and enjoy conversations with like-minded bigots posters.

I am disappointed Marine Le Pen didn't get elected because she would have helped to destroy the EU which, in my opinion, which would be the best thing that could happen for the countries of Europe. Mrs May will have an even harder job on her hands now to get a good deal from the EU with the election of Macron.

Perhaps other posters could take some time to look at this website 'www.theeuroprobe.org' ( sorry I can't get a link to work) and type in the code 2017-017 to see how Germany and France conspired against Britain for some background information to the origins of the EU and its true intentions.

Was that in UK papers then as I have not seen anything like that?

I think, Smileless that Macron was referring to Johnson's self serving embrace of the 'leave' campaign and his palpable horror when it actually 'won'.

I mentioned it Welshwife because his personal life is being used as ammunition against him as his wife is 24 years older! No such criticism of Trump having a wife 23 years younger.....

Personal lives should have no bearing on how good somebody is at a job, but they are media ammunition both good and bad when it comes to politicians.

Oh dear, perhaps Macron should get his facts right. It was Cameron who wanted the referendum "who sailed the ship into battle and jumped overboard at the moment of crisis", the moment of crisis being when he knew he'd lost.

To be honest, why should we care what Macron says about any British politician,he will have more than enough on his plate dealing with French problems in the near future.
Who knows what Johnson and Farage think of Macron.
I am glad that he got in, because if Le Pen had won she would have promised a referendum on the EU, and if the French people had voted for out , what state would the EU be in then, just as we are trying to negotiate deals.
I think it's odd to speak about Macron's wife, all this tittle tattle about age...what the heck does it matter to anybody else.

This is what President Macron thinks of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.- "Boris Johnson enjoys giving flamboyant speeches but has no strategic vision; the turmoil he created the day after Brexit proves it."

He doesn't hesitate to call Brexit "a crime". -“Nigel Farage and Mr Johnson are responsible for this crime: they sailed the ship into battle and jumped overboard at the moment of crisis.”

Macron has been most harsh against leading Brexiteers who during the campaign last summer he said during his Channel 4 interview with Michael Crick, “spoke bullshit”.

“Theresa May has handled it but what has been happening since then? On the geopolitical level as well as on the financial, realignment and submission to the US. What is going to happen is not ‘taking back control’: it’s servitude.”

www.commonspace.scot/articles/10923/macron-brexit-6-quotes-new-french-president-uk-eu