In a referendum on Le Pen, French voters said ‘non’. This opportunity must not be squandered

France may rediscover a taste for moderate social democracy - and find out that compromise is not a dirty word

France has dodged a bullet. We have no idea how the country will be governed in the coming months with a hung parliament without any natural majority. But at least we know who won't be in government for now, and that is an immense relief for millions of voters.

If the first round of this snap parliamentary election was a referendum against liberal centrist President Emmanuel Macron, the second round was a referendum against Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN), just when power appeared within the grasp of the far-right party.

Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre