This weekend, France elects a new parliament, and for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, its far-right forces command a lead over their rivals.
The snap election was called by French President Emmanuel Macron on 10 June, following his disastrous results in the European Parliament elections, scoring just 14.6% compared to over 30% for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, the inheritors of her father’s neo-Nazi tradition.
Pundits in places like the Economist and the Financial Times have applauded the audacity of Macron’s political gamble: The French far-right may well win the elections, they say, but then they will have to govern — and finally, citizens will see their incompetence in action! Few lessons, it seems, have been learned from recent experiences in the United States, Italy, or history.
Macron certainly hoped that these elections would rally support for his presidency. Faced with the prospect of a far-right parliamentary majority, he thought, citizens would turn out to defend Macron and give life to his dying elite political project. Such is the sinister symbiosis between Macron and Le Pen: enemies in name, but essential allies in the final act.
The only real hope to halt the French far-right is its New Popular Front, a coalition of its progressive forces brought together to contest this weekend’s elections. Uniting La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, Les Écologistes, the French Communist Party, and others, the New Popular Front now runs in narrow second-place to the National Rally.
But the dominant economic forces in France are already organizing against them. A range of national and European elites — from prestige economists to powerful industrialists — have already declared their preference for the far-right National Rally over their left-wing challengers.
This alignment comes as no surprise. In case after case, our research consortium on the Reactionary International has shown the ways in which the far-right vanguard relies on the active support of entities far outside the electoral arena — from corporations to foundations, NGOs to think tanks.
France is no exception. There is little doubt that the National Rally will place first in Sunday’s election. The question remains what coalitional politics will result from their victory, and what they mean for a continent that drifts further and further to its extreme right.
Our challenge is to make sense of these dynamics — of the who, where, and above all the how of Europe’s rightward lurch. That is why we launched our new research consortium on the Reactionary International — and are inviting you to join us.
Sign up now and get in touch to help us expose reactionary forces as they seek to rip through France, Europe, and the world at large.
In solidarity,
David Adler
Co-General Coordinator, Progressive International
