French nationalists

French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen has threatened to back a no confidence motion that could topple the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a standoff over the budget, saying after talks both sides were entrenched in their positions.

Marine Le Pen's far-right party was poised Monday to strike an alliance with that of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the EU parliament, a day after being dealt a surprise defeat in French elections.

European markets reacted positively to the results of the first round of parliamentary voting in France, with the euro strengthening on the foreign exchange market and stocks opening higher on Monday. Marine Le Pen's National Rally secured the lead in the election, but with a smaller margin than anticipated by pre-election polls.

A victory for Marine Le Pen’s party, as expected, is indicated by the first exit polls from the parliamentary elections in France.

Estimates give Le Pen’s National Rally 33%, while the New People’s Union, the coalition of the Center and the Left, is at 28.5%.

In third place, at a distance, is the party of President Emmanuel Macron with 22%.

Marine Le Pen “National Rally” increased the number of its deputies fivefold taking from 80 to 100 seats

French President Emmanuel Macron faced the daunting challenge of uniting a deeply divided nation Monday after winning re-election in a battle against Marine Le Pen that saw the far right come its closest yet to taking power.

Centrist Macron won 58.54 percent of the vote in the second-round run-off compared with 41.46 for Le Pen, according to final results from the interior ministry.

The relief is enormous not only in France, but also in Europe, as well as on the other side of the Atlantic, at a geopolitically critical juncture.

Emmanuel Macron prevailed over the far-right Marine Le Pen - the first President in France to secure a second term in the last 20 years.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to begin efforts to unite a deeply divided nation after winning re-election on Appril 24 in a battle against rival Marine Le Pen that saw the far right come its closest yet to taking power.

Paris prosecutors are studying a report by the European Union's fraud agency accusing French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and other members of her nationalist party of misusing public funds while serving in the European Parliament.

The French far-right again failed to win a single region in elections on June 27 exit polls showed, depriving its leader Marine Le Pen of a chance to show her party is fit for power ahead of next year's presidential election.