The Euro has been plunged into crisis on the back of France’s shock election results, which saw the left-wing New Popular Front bloc come out on top.
French voters went to the polls on Sunday to choose a new government, after President Macron called snap elections earlier in June.
After winning 33 percent of the votes in the first round, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally was the clear favourite to win a majority in the 577-seat parliament and form the next government.
However, in a stunning reversal of fortunes, the hard-left New Popular Front emerged as the shock winners, securing 182 seats.
President Macron’s centrist Together coalition saw 163 deputies elected, while Marine Le Pen’s party and its allies have just 143 MPs.
Money markets reacted adversely to the result, due to fears that a new left-wing led government will go on an unfunded spending spree, increasing France’s huge debt.
The Euro slumped as much as 0.4 percent against the dollar and fell 0.1 percent against the pound to be worth 84.5 pence in early trading on Monday.
The NFP is formed from four left-wing parties – Unbowed France (LFI) led by the radical firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Socialists and Communists, as well as the Greens.
Mélenchon demanded on Sunday that Macron appoint a prime minister from the alliance and implement the entirety of the NFP’s programme.
That programme envisages a massive bout of public spending that would increase France’s debt, which currently stands at 110 percent and is the third highest in the eurozone.
The radical left-wingers want to reverse Macron’s pension reforms, increase public sector wages, link salaries to inflation and raise the minimum wage.
They have also promised to cap prices of essential foods, electricity, gas and petrol.
The election results have stunned Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, who believed they were on the cusp of power.
Jordan Bardella, the party’s President, was scathing in his criticism of the tactical alliance between the NPF and Macron’s Together that consigned the NR to defeat.
Candidates from both parties dropped out of races in the second round, in an attempt to boost the chances of whichever candidate was best placed to defeat the NR representative.
“Depriving millions of French people of the possibility of seeing their ideas brought to power will never be a viable destiny for France”, he said.
He then denounced President Emmanuel Macron for, in his words, pushing France towards instability – and into the arms of what he called the “extreme left”.
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