French voters have given President Emmanuel Macron's party a solid victory in the parliamentary election.

French polling agencies are projecting that President Emmanuel Macron's new centrist party will have a large majority in the powerful lower house of parliament and a clear mandate to overhaul the way France works and does business.

French voters are casting their ballots in the final round of parliamentary elections that could clinch President Emmanuel Macron's hold on power, as his fledgling party appears set to rout mainstream rivals.

In an increasingly polarised France, residents of a heavily Muslim suburb of Paris have decided to start their own political party. Elisabeth Zerofsky investigates.

The first round of parliamentary elections suggests the new president will get the majority needed to push through radical reforms, say Philippe Aghion and Benedicte Berner.

France will elect a president tomorrow and, if the opinion polls are correct, centrist Emmanuel Macron will defeat the National Front’s Marine Le Pen. A poll released yesterday showed that the pro-EU Mr Macron has extended his lead.

In the face of Russian cyber attacks and Moscow’s backing for Le Pen, Guy Verhofstadt argues that Europe’s only defence is for Macron supporters to come out and vote. 

Liberals have taken heart from Emmanuel Macron’s early showing in the French presidential elections, but they shouldn’t get carried away, writes Mark J Roe.

France's troubled wartime past is taking centre stage in the presidential race as centrist Emmanuel Macron visits a Nazi massacre site and Marine Le Pen's far-right party suffers a new blow over alleged Holocaust denial.

Le Pen has transformed the face of politics in France, writes Christine Ockrent

French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron has launched a political offensive against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, saying her platform is based on "hatred for others" in contrast to his desire to "calm" the country.

Le Pen’s fall from grace breaks the mould of recent times.

France lessons for Irish parties

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has announced that she is temporarily stepping down as head of her National Front party.

Marine Le Pen calls Emmanuel Macron "a hysterical, radical 'Europeanist'."

France is at the forefront of a global movement away from traditional politics and towards individuals free from party ties, writes John Lloyd.

EU leaders should be considering to what extent they would be able to work around a Le Pen presidency, writes Mark Leonard.

The prospects for the Government securing more than €3bn from its sale of AIB shares could brighten this weekend if French far-right candidate Marine Le Pen polls poorly in the first round of presidential elections, according to analysts.

If the the far-right Marine Le Pen and the independent centrist Emmanuel Macron square off in the second round of the presidential election, it will be a first in 60 years, says Zaki Laïdi.         

Protesters in France threw firebombs at police who responded with tear gas as hundreds marched against far-right National Front leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

If Britain’s Theresa May concedes too much to those right-wing Brexiteers and Euroskeptics, she could make it impossible to reach a final agreement with Europe, writes Robert Harvey

Article 50 of the EU Treaties sets out a clear two-year deadline for completion of the withdrawal negotiations.

The EU "undeniably" intends to punish Britain over Brexit and the bloc wants the split to be "as painful as possible", far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has said.

The Netherlands election has energised traditional parties across Europe from left and right, with Dutch voters showing Europe that populism is not always inevitable, suggest Raf Casert and Angela Charlton. 

The Government is on course to sell up to €3bn worth of shares in AIB in late May — providing that the outcome of looming French election does not disturb banking markets.

A top aide of French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has been handed preliminary charges in an investigation into money spent on her party's European Parliament assistants.

France is threatened by two "totalitarianisms" in the form of economic globalisation and Islamic fundamentalism, far-right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen told her party conference.

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is unveiling her platform at a conference this weekend, envisioning a thriving nation "made in France".

Brexit, the Donald Trump presidency and a rise in isolated terrorist attacks were some of the shocks that investors faced in 2016, writes Ryan McGrath.

Take a quick look at the main metrics and it appears that the year just gone was a vintage one. The unemployment rate dropped by over 1%.

You’d think that given the bruising troika years and the fact that we still toil in order to service the debt of private bankers that our attitudes towards the European project would have cooled considerably.

Josh Lowe, Owen Matthews and Matt McAllester examine what’s happening in Europe to try to understand what’s behind the emergence and spread of the current global populist revolt

How an area votes in comparison to its neighbours can be influenced by the polarising effects of globalisation and other factors, writes Jean Pisani-Ferry

The leader of France's far-right National Front set the tone for her campaign for the French presidency on Saturday, calling to fight an Islamist "offensive" and promising to hold a nationwide referendum on European Union membership if she is elected next spring.

Nine months before the presidential election, the candidates could well be the unpopular incumbent, Francois Hollande, his equally unpopular predecessor, Nicholas Sarkozy, and the far-right’s Marine Le Pen, says Noah Barkin

The race to be the next president of France could come down to voting for whoever will do the least damage, writes Noah Barkin. 

Three terror attacks since January 2015 have tested France’s spirit. With high gun ownership and an isolated immigrant community, the country is on tenterhooks, says Jonathan Miller

Ana Palacio fears that the future safety of Europe has been jeopardised by Britain leaving the EU, with national interests returning to the fore for member states.

Economists had overwhelmingly told that a British vote to leave the EU would entail significant economic costs, but voters failed to take heed of the warnings, writes Jean Pisani-Ferry