- Title: Parisians react to Macron's big parliamentary win
- Date: 19th June 2017
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 19, 2017) (REUTERS) STREET WITH SACRE COEUR BASILICA IN BACKGROUND METRO SIGN PEOPLE WALKING ON PAVEMENT WOMAN WALKING PAST NEWSPAPER KIOSK FRENCH DAILY NEWSPAPER "LE FIGARO" WITH FRONT PAGE SHOWING PICTURE OF FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON AND HEADLINE READING (FRENCH): "AFTER THE ELYSEE, COMES PARLIAMENT" FRENCH DAILY NEWSPAPER "LE MONDE" WITH HEADLINE READING (FRENCH): "PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS: WHAT AWAITS MACRON'S MAJORITY" FRENCH DAILY NEWSPAPER "LIBERATION" WITH HEADLINE READING (FRENCH): "PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS, THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT" (SOUNDBITE) (French) CHAUFFEUR, PIERRE CLOVIS, SAYING: "I think there are pros and cons. Regarding plans for retirement, we will have to negotiate, because it's not clear. For the other things, I think a balance has to be reached, and the other parties are there precisely to reach this balance. And we too will fight to get the maximum we can, but I think Macron is a young, intelligent person, he has a good feel for things, so we'll see." (SOUNDBITE) (French) COACH, ERIC PERRET, SAYING: "I am happy about the elections and at the same time not so happy. Happy because a majority was obtained (for Macron) and it's good to have a majority, and less happy because of the rather low participation rate. And I say that especially because I don't vote, I am part of those people who don't vote. But at the same time, I'm annoyed that it was only 46 percent or 43 percent (real figure 42), I can't remember the results of the number of people who voted. Now there is a government that has been put in place that now has its parliament, and now it's up to them to work to see what will happen to France's future." TRAFFIC IN STREET METRO SIGN
- Embargoed: 3rd July 2017 07:31
- Keywords: French parliamentary election Macron majority Paris reactions
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA0016LY06RR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Parisians woke up on Monday (June 19) to a confirmation that President Emmanuel Macron's government had won the commanding parliamentary majority he wanted to push through his far-reaching pro-growth reforms.
Macron's centrist Republic on the Move (LREM) party and its center-right Modem ally won 350 seats out of 577 in the lower house, the results showed after a vote that saw a record low turnout for a parliamentary poll in the postwar Fifth Republic.
Sunday's high abstention rate underlines that Macron will have to tread carefully with reforms in a country with muscular trade unions and a history of street protests that have forced many a past government to dilute new legislation.
Nevertheless, the scale of victory gives the president, a pro-European Union centrist, a strong platform from which to make good on campaign promises to revive France's fortunes by cleaning up politics and relaxing regulations that investors say shackle the euro zone's second-biggest economy.
His year-old party filled the political space created by the disarray within the Socialist Party and the Republicans, with Sunday night capping a sequence of events that a year ago looked improbable. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
