France

Many had dismissed it as a costly indulgence for a nation facing economic hardship, while some condemned it as a dangerous diversion from the deepest political crisis France faces since the 1950s.

And, yet, the two-week long Summer Olympics hosted by Paris is now universally lauded as a success in organizational, artistic, and of course sporting terms. For two whole weeks the usually grumpy French, some of them in civil war mood, sheathed their daggers to have a good time together.

The old ditty that sport unites while politics divides sounded more plausible than ever.

French politics are ridiculous.

The phrase ‘without fear or favour’ has been much in the news of late. Whether the maxim is still applicable to the British constabulary is a matter of conjecture. Some, like the ex-policeman Harry Miller, have been saying for years that the police ‘have traded impartiality for the praise of special interest groups’. Miller was visited by Humberside police in January 2020 after he expressed gender-critical views in an online poem. He later won a legal challenge against the police.

Paris. June 9. 8pm. The results of the European Parliament elections were made public. in In France, the party of President Emmanuel Macron garnered 14.6% of the vote, 8 points less than in 2019; the French population had turned away from Macron. The Socialist Party came out with 13.8% of the vote and Rebellious France, a far-left party, 9.89% of the vote. The moderate right party, The Republicans, received only 7.25% of the vote and continued to slide towards insignificance. The right wing National Rally received 31.3% of the vote, 10 points more than in 2019, an extremely high result for a long-marginalized party.

France has been plunged into turmoil. This time not by the actions of protesters, rioters or striking workers, but by the president of the French Republic himself.

In the aftermath of the European elections last month, Emmanuel Macron was facing the success of Marine Le Pen’s right-populist National Rally (RN) and the plummeting popularity of his own Ensemble coalition. As a result, he immediately dissolved the National Assembly and called snap legislative elections – despite the constitution in no way compelling him to do so. For the past two years, his party and his government have been struggling along without an absolute majority. The result at the weekend, after two rounds of voting, is a well and truly hung parliament.

Le Pen’s loss is far from the republican’s victory

Contrary to those punching the air and heaving enormous sighs of relief, it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about the recent legislative election in France. The ecstasy felt by many at seeing the National Rally (RN) fall far short of winning a majority had little to do with reality and much to do with wishful thinking and media hype.

The Left-wing coalition victory in France is a triumph for Pax Americana. But for how long?

Though routinely mentioned in the same breath as the Nazi collaborationist Vichy government, in policy terms the Rassemblement National (RN) is more accurately understood less as “fascist” than as a group of anti-universalist social democrats. For instance, Marine Le Pen’s party doesn’t question the legitimacy of social welfare as such. Rather, the RN has sought to entrench in French law the principle of “national preference”, with welfare and social housing prioritised for French citizens over foreign nationals.

France is like a man falling from a building who, floor by floor, says to himself “so far so good.”

After the announcement of the first exit polls in France, both professional and social media were very soon flooded with the message: “France is being saved from fascism.” I would add “again,” because in recent years it seems that even when Jean Marie Le Pen was president of the then Front National, France has done nothing but save itself from the extreme Right. On the other hand, many on the Right have spoken of the fall of France, not for the first time either, and the apparent triumph of chaos. Some have mentioned Michel Houllebecq’s novel Submission, a ‘fictional’ story in which all parties support an Islamist candidate to prevent the victory of the FN candidate. The Islamist becomes president of the Republic and France moves steadily and smoothly towards Islamisation. Today, that story doesn’t seem very fictional; after all, Islam is increasingly present in France.

France preparing for Sharia Law legislation. pic.twitter.com/eQIAqFLY4j

— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) July 8, 2024

Macron’s snap election fuels existing anti-establishment sentiment, leaving France with no clear leadership.

The French Parliamentary second round elections on July 7 have delivered unexpected results with the left’s New Popular Front winning a relative majority with 172-192 of the 577 seats, followed by Macron’s Presidential Majority with 150-170 seats and National Rally with 132-152 seats. Since no party garnered an absolute majority, the future of France’s political leadership remains undecided.