The socialists and the Républicains (including their previous incarnations) have been major fuck-ups when they held power, and the extreme right and the extreme left offer nothing but tired old slogans as solutions to problems they don't even seem to fully understand.

Macron will make mistakes and stumble, but he does truly seem to want things to abandon their stagnation, which Eurocrats are so well known (and despised) for. Let's hope he gets somewhere.

The Socialists came damn close to being wiped out in the legislative elections, winning a pathetic 29 seats.

If they are to recover, their only chance is to be the anti-austerity party Hollande refused to allow them to be when they were in power.

They should also consider forming an alliance with Melanchon's party for the next round of local elections and probably from then on.

The only voters who are going to turn away from Macron's party are those who voted for him on antifascist grounds against Marine Le Pen, but who never really supported his anti-worker policies and his plans to cut social benefits.

them decimated in the first place.

I hope Macron succeeds, not just for France, but for the rest of us in the EU. Centrism must succeed, with fascists like Le Pen hovering.

The survey results that show that France needs a "resurgence" plays to LePen's strength, but Macron's moderate with it. Something like 80% of the population is in favor of it, and you ignore it at your own risk. He undercut Marine.

The economy, and some of the changes he wants that'll hurt workers rights went straight at the Socialists record. But the economy needs some help, because the current labor rules are untenable and have been for a long time.

He's not anti-Putin, he's not pro-Putin. He's trying to forge a delicate path.

previously but a friend of mine is a business owner in France, and is looking to sell. Some of the stories he told me, about the mad labour laws, defy logic. Himself and his wife are good (naïve) employers, they pay a good bit above minimum wage in an area where there aren't too many jobs on offer, and have treated the staff like family. However, that fairness hasn't been returned. One of the numerous occasions, was where an employee was eventually found on video at the till, handing over hundreds of euros worth of stock to an accomplice. They dismissed her for theft (she had been doing it for a while) but she took them to the Labour tribunal, and my friend had to PAY HER thousands for her to go. There were lots of stories like that, so they are selling up. They might look for another business in France, but it would be an absolute minimum of staff.