Brussels, 06/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The representatives of different European institutions welcomed the election of Jacques Chirac as President of the French Republic, on 5 May, in the second round of elections, with a crushing majority faced with his rival Lean-Marie Le Pen.
At the European Parliament, its President Pat Cox welcomed this "victory for reason and common sense over intolerance and extremism", while stressing that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance", and that politicians, and not only in France, but in all Member States, "can only truly defeat intolerance and extremism by understanding and then effectively dealing with people's legitimate everyday concerns", and calling on their intelligence rather than exploiting their "fears, prejudices and insecurity". "In all humility, we must set out to rejuvenate and reinvigorate European parliamentary democracy, by showing our fellow European citizens that their views count and that democracy is back in charge", Pat Cox concluded. As for the President of the EPP-ED Group, Hans-Gert Poettering, he considered that Jacques Chirac's victory would "be a driving force of the European integration process, of which France is one of the main pillars", and enable the work of the European convention to continue. The CDU member hoped that Jacques Chirac and his allies would gain a clear victory in the legislative elections (9 and 16 June), which would enable France "to take new strong initiatives in favour of Europe and especially the setting up of a European foreign policy". Graham Watson, President of the Liberal Group, observes that Europe is relieved at Chirac's victory. Whereas he does not himself share the views of the French President, the British Liberal Democrat notes that the "tree of freedom is continuing to grow", even though one should wonder why a fifth of the French electorate voted for Le Pen. For Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-chair of the Green/EFA Group, it is "worrying to note that a racist and anti-Semetic Party won close to 6 million votes". According to him, Europe must draw the lessons form these result, and "faced with rampant globalisation (…) also has to explain to its citizens that it is part of the solutions and not the problems". The Group's co-Chair, Monica Frasssoni, for her part, stressed that the "French rejected the anti-European option" of the extreme-right, and hoped that the multifaceted Left would win the legislative elections in June. The members of the Bonino list, Maurizio Turco and Marco Cappato chose to place emphasis on one detail close to their hearts: the last-minute cancellation by the French police of the "Million Marjuna March" that should have taken place in Paris on Saturday, at the same time as in 150 cities in the world. "the ideas attributed to Le Pen have already won", they say.
EU Council President Josep Piqué congratulated the French people for having thus "reaffirmed the values of a united Europe", considering that, following the experience of the first round, France "has returned to the France it has always been (…), France with which we want to build an enlarged, prosperous, united Europe defending freedom and democratic values".
Commission President Romano Prodi, for his part, stressed that "Europe is a union of nations and people" and that the French people "one again showed that this nation is at the heart of Europe and intends remaining there". The extremist and isolationist policies of Jean-Marie Le Pen were rejected in mass, he observed.