Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

2022 FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

‘New start for Franco-German ties’: German politicians congratulate Macron on vote win

Leading German politicians have expressed relief and delight at the result of the French election, which saw centrist Emmanuel Macron returned to power with a clear majority over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

Published: 25 April 2022 09:32 CEST
'New start for Franco-German ties': German politicians congratulate Macron on vote win
Emmanuel Macron, President of France, celebrates with his supporters on the Champ de Mars on Sunday. Photo: dpa/AFP | Thomas Coex

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday soon after projections showed him winning a second term in office.

“Your voters have sent a strong vote of confidence in Europe today. I am happy that we will continue our good cooperation,” Scholz, of the Social Democrats (SPD), wrote on Twitter.

The final results were released shortly before 2am and had the centrist incumbent Macron on 58.55 percent of the vote, beating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen who took 41.45 percent. 

Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades, but Le Pen’s result also marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has revealed a deeply divided nation.

Saskia Esken, chairwoman of the SPD, told Deutschlandfunk that she was delighted at the result but said that more needed to be done to oppose the extreme right.

“The whole of Europe has the task of also counteracting these tendencies, also to ensure that people feel more strongly connected to politics than is apparently the case in many places at the moment.”

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner described the French election as being “about fundamental questions of values.”

“The French have decided in favour of Macron. Thus, a united Europe is the biggest winner of this election,” said Lindner, who is leader of the liberal Free Democrats.

Green Party leader Omid Nouripour said that European should take the “normalisation of extremist discourse” in the French election campaign as a warning. “It is necessary to stand up with all our strength for democracy and freedom and defend our European values,” he said.

Opposition leader, Friedrich Merz of the CDU, welcomed the result and said that “now a new start for Franco-German cooperation is possible and necessary!”

Merz’ ally in Bavaria, CSU leader Markus Söder, described Macron’s victory as a “good signal for Europe” which showed that “unity and cohesion are particularly important at the present time.”

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party also expressed their satisfaction with the result after Le Pen improved on her performance in 2017, when she also faced Macron in the final round.

“Emmanuel Macron’s victory is an illusion,” AfD chairman and lead spokesman Tino Chrupalla. “The change of course in Europe is a reality and cannot be stopped in the long term.”

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

GERMANY AND RUSSIA

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

Germany and the Czech Republic on Friday blamed Russia for a series of recent cyberattacks, prompting the European Union to warn Moscow of consequences over its "malicious behaviour in cyberspace".

Published: 4 May 2024 10:29 CEST
Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin 

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

SHOW COMMENTS