Buoyed by a landslide victory in European elections, France’s right-wing National Rally launched a national campaign on Tuesday with its star leader Jordan Bardella promising supporters the “largest possible majority” in upcoming parliamentary elections.
Left and right opposition parties are struggling to form coalitions and field candidates in snap national elections called by President Emmanuel Macron after they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of right-wing parties in European Parliament elections on Sunday.
The National Rally’s victory in the national elections could lead to France’s first far-right government. second World War,
Though sharp differences remain between parties on both sides of the political spectrum, the leading figures calling for a united front have one thing in common: they do not want to cooperate with Macron.
Despite their differences, left-wing parties agreed late Monday to form a coalition that includes the Greens, Socialists, Communists and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left France Unbowed. The leaders have not agreed on who will lead the coalition, nor on its program.
In the wake of the European elections, left-wing politicians are focused on uniting to prevent a National Rally victory. For now, they have also vowed not to form a coalition with Macron’s centrists.
In a joint statement, the coalition called on all left-wing forces, including influential labour unions, to unite behind “a new popular front” to create an “alternative”. Emmanuel Macron and to fight against the far-right racist project.”
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen delivers a speech while Jordan Bardella, president of the French far-right National Rally, listens at the party election night headquarters, after French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would dissolve the National Assembly and call new legislative elections following defeat in the EU vote, in Paris, Sunday, June 9, 2024. The first projected results from France have put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the EU elections, according to French opinion polling institutes. (AP Photo/Louis Joly)
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen is working to consolidate the right-wing forces ahead of the two-stage elections on June 30 and July 7. Le Pen’s niece Marion Marechal, who on Sunday won a seat in the European Parliament as a member of Eric Zemmour’s rival Reconquer! party, visited National Rally headquarters in Paris on Monday to negotiate a right-wing alliance.
Family ties aside, Marechal said on Tuesday that Bardella had told him about the National Rally’s change of mind about the pact with the Reconquer! party. Marechal said in a statement that Bardella had “given a regretful explanation against the pact, saying that (Le Pen’s party) does not want to be associated directly or indirectly with Eric Zemmour.”
Le Pen also met with members of the conservative Republicans party to discuss a united front. Some conservative lawmakers have backed some of Macron’s bills. National Assembly Since the President has lost the majority in the lower house of the French Parliament following the 2022 general election.
“We have a historic chance to allow the National camp to put France back on track,” Le Pen said in an interview with French public broadcaster on Monday evening. She said the National Rally and conservatives could agree on several policy goals, including an economic recovery plan, boosting purchasing power and curbing immigration.
Republicans president Eric Ciotti said he wanted a compromise with Le Pen, after which several prominent members of his party called for his resignation. Ciotti insisted the conservatives needed the alliance for their political survival.
“I want my political family to move in this direction,” he said in an interview with French public broadcaster on Tuesday. He strongly criticised Macron’s faction within the Conservative Party, “which has led the country to the situation it is in today – more violence, more insecurity.”
“A right-wing bloc, a national bloc … that’s what most of our voters want,” Ciotti said.
Bardella, a 28-year-old disciple of Le Pen and the face of the right-wing’s victory in Europe, also urged French conservatives to ride a wave of popularity with the National Rally. He urged conservatives to “stop being Emmanuel Macron’s political crutch” and “work together with us.”
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire called on members of Macron’s Renaissance party to make room in their bloc for conservatives who refuse to cooperate with the far right in the election.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal met with outgoing Renaissance MPs, who are still recovering from their defeat at the hands of the right-wing and the president’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly.
Attal acknowledged that the dissolution was “a cruel decision” for the MPs, but urged the MPs to be ready for a “new battle”.
“You are a symbol of stability against anarchy and courage against populism,” Atal said.
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Macron is expected to discuss the upcoming elections at a press conference on Wednesday.
