With Macron win confirmed, European market rally hits pause

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Emmanuel Macron has decisively won the French presidential election, defeating far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become the country's youngest president at 39, a report said.

Michael Roth, Germany's deputy foreign minister, applauded Mr Macron's win but said the result was marred by the fact that 11 million people in France voted for Ms Le Pen.

Emmanuel Macron's victory in France's presidential election is the biggest step yet in pursuit of pushing the idea of joint euro zone bonds past robust German opposition, the author of one of the first proposals for such a scheme told Reuters.

Addressing his supporters in the grand courtyard of the Louvre, Macron said he would defend France and Europe. May had called Macron to congratulate him on his election victory and the two leaders briefly talked about Brexit among other bilateral issues, Downing Street said.

The president of the European Council also celebrated the victory and congratulated the "French people for choosing Liberty, Equality and Fraternity over tyranny of fake news".

Former US president Barack Obama who openly backed Mr Macron last week and whose message of hope served as a model for the French candidate is a cautionary tale for what can happen when some promises go unfulfilled.

This result represented around double the amount of votes that her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, had achieved when he ran on behalf of the same party in 2002 - a comparison which some say demonstrates the momentum Marine Le Pen has generated and the potential for her far-right movement to continue to grow in impact and influence.

Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron became the first President of France from outside the two traditional main parties.

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He also added: "To have that record of winning so many matches is not normal". We have to chase the Champions League by trying to win the Europa League".

If another party wins a majority, Macron could be pressured to choose a prime minister from that party in a situation called "co-habitation".

Conceding defeat, Le Pen vowed to lead her Front National party to the upcoming legislative election, but warned it would be undergoing a "profound transformation".

A graduate of elite National School of Administration, which boasts three French presidents among its alumni, Macron worked as a financial inspector at the economy ministry after graduating before joining Rothschild & Cie bank as an investment banker.

Macron was criticized by Le Pen for advocating against stripping dual-nationals convicted of terrorist offenses of their French nationality. He doesn't speak French yet, he just received his asylum status but when I translate to him that "ensemble" means "together" his eyes are smiling.

He has previously praised Marine Le Pen as a "great woman who has achieved huge success" but despite both politicians being sceptical of the European Union, he has said her political values are different to those of the Movement.

A New York-based cyber intelligence consultancy, Flashpoint, said there were indications a hacker group with ties to Russian military intelligence was behind the attack.

Macron has said he was aiming for an absolute majority in the lower chamber in June's elections.

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