WASHINGTON - The United States congratulated France's Socialist Party and its allies and said it expected to maintain close ties with the new government. "The United States congratulates the Socialist Party and its allies on their clear victory," said a State Department spokeswoman, Ms Julie Reside.
Canada will cooperate with the new government, a Foreign Affairs Department official in Ottawa said. "We will work with the deputies elected by the French," he said.
Germany's left wing opposition chief, Mr Oskar Lafontaine, hailed the victory as a "a great success for France and for Europe". But Mr Karl Lamers, foreign policy spokesman for Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats (CDU), expressed concern about the European and EMU implications of the victory.