The French presidency goes to Macron. But it's only a reprieve

The next president of France will be a brilliant product of that country's elite, with a clear understanding of France's deep structural problems, some good ideas about how to tackle them, a strong policy team, and a deep commitment to the European Union. When a centrist pro-European government has been formed in Berlin after the German election this autumn, there is a chance for these two nations to lead a consolidatory reform of the EU.

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Thanks to France's superior electoral system and strong republican tradition, the political outcome is better than the victories of Donald Trump and Brexit, but the underlying electoral reality is in some ways worse.

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From the country which gave us the 1789 example of violent revolution, we now have the personification of today's worldwide anti-liberal counter-revolution. Le Pen is the very model of a modern national populist... There is every reason to believe that this wave of populist reaction against globalisation, liberalisation and Europeanisation still has a lot of pent-up anger behind it.