French authority crumbles

The earthquake registered a massive tremor yesterday as President Emmanuel Macron called for an early legislative election in France. Eric Ciotti, the leader of Los Républicains (LR), the party that continues the traditional Gaullist right, proposed an alliance with the National Regrouping (RN, extreme right). Immediately there was a flood of politicians who strongly opposed the move.

Ciotti acted, apparently, without consulting the other leaders and without hiding his intentions. Some accused him of treason, although everyone knew the opinion of the president, who has been very close to Le Pen’s principles for years, especially on issues such as immigration and public order. Ciotti rose to the top of LR in December 2022 by a vote of the members, and he says that most militants believe this agreement is now the best option.

For Ciotti, despite breaking taboos, the understanding with Le Pen has been forced by circumstances. The argument is that LR is “too weak” to resist the large factions that would form its radical sector and the left dominated by Macronism, so the only option is to leave behind old prejudices and join forces with Le Pen. His opinion is that there is no longer any reason for them to exist.

“There is a need to serve a country that is in danger,” says Eric Ciotti, who has been labelled a traitor by his people

“There is a need to serve a country that is in danger,” Ciotti said nervously on the afternoon news of the first channel, TF1. “I think the country has never gone so far to the right, it waits for the right, it expects the right to act,” he stressed. “We can no longer be helpless, as that immobility is what has led us to where we are now.” Ciotti emphasized that the extreme right has changed – and even questioned whether it deserves this adjective – and that “we are no longer the same as we were at the end of the Second World War.” For the president of LR, the more Le Pen’s party is stigmatized, the more it grows. And in any case, the siege that has existed around it for more than forty years must end because it makes no sense.

The pact Ciotti wants would have to be national, although when push comes to shove each outgoing LR deputy will decide. If he accepts the pact with Le Pen’s party, the far-right would not present any candidates, helping his re-election. The idea is that LR maintains its parliamentary group in the new National Assembly. Ciotti did not want to answer questions about whether he would join a potential government led by the RN, but his body language and expressions indicate he would accept the offer. It is rumoured they could offer him the interior ministry.

The union of the right under her leadership was Le Pen’s long-cherished goal, her dream. The political momentum since Sunday, following the far-right’s clear victory in the European elections and Macron’s immediate decision to dissolve the National Assembly, has brought this possibility closer.

Le Pen had dreamed for years of unifying the right under her leadership, but there was a siege

LR, whose candidate had a very poor result in the 2022 presidential elections, less than 5% of the vote, has been in difficulties for years. In the European elections it obtained 7.2% of the vote and 6 seats in the European Parliament. Some of its voters, the most right-wing, moved towards Le Pen, others, moderates, towards Macronism.

The main LR leaders in the Assembly and the Senate, as well as several regional presidents – including former ministers Xavier Bertrand and Laurent Wauquiez – categorically rejected Ciotti’s decision and sent a text to the newspaper. Figaro In which he said that the position expressed by his president “is an impasse, does not compromise our political family and in any case does not represent the line of Republicans.”

It remains to be seen how long Ciotti will remain at the head of his party. Senate President Gérard Larcher demanded his resignation. “I will not support any pact with the RN, contrary to the interest of France and our history, under any pretext,” Larcher insisted. Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France (Paris region) and former candidate for the Elysée, accused him of “selling his soul for a plate of lentils.” Bertrand, president of Altos de Francia (North), recalled that “the DNA of the Republican Right has never been extremism, never the National Front (the old name of the RN), never Le Pen, it has always been my fight and it will continue.”

The Left wants to relaunch a Popular Front that will get 25% of the vote, according to polls

One of the harshest reactions to Ciotti came from outgoing deputy Julien Dive. “We already know that in June 1940, Eric Ciotti would never have crossed the English Channel,” said Dive, pointing to General de Gaulle, who had gone into exile in London so as not to collaborate with the Nazi occupiers and prepare the Resistance. The deputy then dedicated one of the most severe insults to his still party president, calling him a collaborationist traitor, with very serious historical resonance.

Despite the scuffle, it is believed that about a dozen of the 60 LR delegates so far, including Ciotti, will align with Le Pen. But the fate of the remainder of the game is unknown.

Another attempt at a deal, between the RN and Eric Zemmour’s far-right party, Reconquista, was derailed. A brand new MEP from Zemmour’s party, Marion Maréchal, Le Pen’s niece and granddaughter of the clan’s head Jean Marie, was leading the talks. Eventually the RN shut the door. Maréchal explained that Le Pen’s party “does not want any direct or indirect relationship with Eric Zemmour.” They do not forgive him for his contempt for the RN and for setting up a party to compete in their territory.

Le Pen, along with her niece Marion Maréchal and Éric Zemmour, refused to cooperate with the other extreme right-wing.

The left is forming a new coalition, just like in 2022, but the name is changing. They have chosen nothing less than the Popular Front, a risky name as it was in the 1930s. It would bring together La Francia Insumisa (LFI), the Socialist Party (PS), the Communist Party (PCF) and environmentalists. For now, Raphaël Glucksmann’s small party, Plaza Pública, which obtained almost 14% of the vote in the European elections, has said no. He refuses to dance to the tune of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is still the leader of the LFI. They are torn apart by almost opposite views on the war in Ukraine, relations with Russia, China, Islam and other issues.

Macron had to hold a press conference yesterday to explain his strategy. In the end he canceled it and, in principle, he will give it today. Everything seems very improvised, dodgy. The first poll on the legislative elections, by Ifop (which was very far right among the Europeans), gives 35% support to the RN, 25% to the left, if it participates together, and only 18% to the Macronists. This would be a new disaster for the president, however, he is confident that he can change the situation. In an interview with Le Figaro Magazine refused to resign if he loses and has to live with a far-right prime minister. The head of state repeated that he is going out to “win”. In any case, the credibility of this is in question. He had said he would not hold elections after the European elections and he did so even before the first real results were known.

Last night, the prime minister, Gabriel Attal, who had advised against dissolving the assembly, did not want to get involved in that debate and justified Macron’s decision because of the “risk of suffocation and disorder” caused by the two political extremes and, apparently, because, in the European elections, he suffered a “defeat” in the presidential field, a word that Macron avoids saying about himself in public.