Macron irritates the left, Glucksmann takes the lead

10:55 – Invited to Macron’s entry into the campaign, the left takes offense

Emmanuel Macron has already taken a step in the European election campaign, but his official entry must take place this Thursday, April 25 with a speech on Europe that he will deliver at the Sorbonne, in memory of the one he gave during of the last election at the same place. Gentleman, the Head of State invited all French MEPs to attend his speech on the “perspective of the strategic agenda” of the European Union. But few elected officials should return to the Sorbonne, in all the left has made its position known. Several front-runners pointed out the fact that the speech will be held during the last plenary session of Parliament, a highly criticized coincidence. Marie Toussaint jokes about “regrettable” timing, while Manon Aubry tackles and notes a new “serious attack on democracy”.

04/21/24 – 2:24 p.m. – A “proven” risk of intervention by Russian propaganda

Will Russian propaganda play a role in the European elections? In an interview with West France, the French Minister for Europe Jean-Noël Barrot, is worried about this. “We are bombarded by propaganda from Vladimir Putin’s Russia and its transmission belts,” he explains. “Not a week goes by without France being the target of coordinated and deliberate maneuvers to disrupt public debate and interfere in the campaign for the European elections,” assures the minister. Asked about the possibility that these campaigns could influence the results of the election, Jean-Noël Barrot believes that “the risk is proven”.

04/21/24 – 10:21 – Jordan Bardella’s ambitions

The head of the National Rally list, Jordan Bardella assured that in the event of victory in the European elections on June 9, he would demand “from the same evening the dissolution of the National Assembly and a return to the people”. “The European elections of June 9 represent a referendum for or against the disintegration of France,” said the head of the RN in an interview with JDD. In the event of dissolution ordered by Emmanuel Macron in June, the RN would “present itself before the Head of State, with the legitimacy conferred by the French people, to request the holding of a referendum on immigration”. The 28-year-old European deputy wants to make the President of the Republic his “only adversary”, believing that the list led by Marion Maréchal (Reconquest) “risks not obtaining elected representatives” and “calls on the voters of Éric Zemmour and François-Xavier Bellamy to join our fight for France”.

04/20/24 – 3:06 p.m. – A great-grandnephew of Napoleon I candidate

Descendant of the King of Naples and brother-in-law of Napoleon I Joachim Murat (1767-1815), Joachim Charles Napoléon Murat is running for the European elections. Aged 50, he will appear in third position on the “We the People” list, led by Georges Kuzmanovic, a former spokesperson for Jean-Luc Mélenchon who left La France insoumise in 2018 to found his movement, “République Souveraine “. Former paratrooper officer, Joachim Murat presents himself as “a enthusiast of France and its social model who no longer supports its destruction planned by the supporters of federalist Europe”. Among the ideas he intends to defend: “returning power to nations and people” in the face of an “oppressive European bureaucracy” and a “political elite which has betrayed the fundamental principles of democracy, sovereignty and freedom “.

04/20/24 – 1:27 p.m. – The number of French deputies in the European Parliament will increase

The European Parliament cannot exceed 751 seats (750 MEPs plus the president). Since the departure of the United Kingdom, the seats left vacant have been redistributed to Member States. The French, who had initially elected 74 deputies, saw their national number increase to 79. In 2024, the increase will continue “taking into account demographic developments in EU member states”, reports Public Senate. France will thus have 81 seats in June 2024. A minimum threshold and a maximum threshold of elected officials per country exist to ensure fair representation of European citizens. The least populated countries are thus guaranteed to occupy 6 seats like Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg. The maximum threshold corresponds to 96 seats. Germany, the most populous country in Europe, is the only country to have reached this limit.

04/20/24 – 11:56 – Apology for terrorism: Rima Hassan denounces “an attempt at political intimidation”

The Franco-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan, present in seventh position on the list rebellious in the European elections, was summoned by the police for “apology of terrorism”. She is at the heart of a controversy after an interview carried out after the Hamas attacks of October 7 on Israel in which she describes the action of the Islamist movement as “legitimate”. The activist said, RTLto have “the feeling that indeed, it is part of a context which consists of putting pressure both on my candidacy and on my positions aimed at alerting what is happening in Gaza”.

The day after the double cancellation of a conference by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Rima Hassan on the Middle East in Lille, the Insoumis see it as “an attempt to intimidate and criminalize all the voices that are rising in the face of the ongoing massacres in Gaza. Rima Hassan believes that “it is even counterproductive for those who target me, since by wanting to make me a target, they will make a figure of me”. “I am very very calm, I think that it is rather an attempt at political intimidation and which will turn against those who thought it because there will be and it is already underway a big wave of support aimed at denouncing this attack on our fundamental freedoms,” she added.

04/19/24 – 4:57 p.m. – Call for sanction and unfortunate comparison… Mélenchon too harsh after “censorship”?

Jean-Luc Mélenchon is angry with the prefect of the North who banned his conference on Palestine planned for Lille on April 18 under the pretext of a risk of “disturbing public order”. The candidate ineligible for the Europeans denounced an “abuse of power” by the prefect which he considers “disavowed” by the declarations of Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal, Thursday evening. The Head of State and the Prime Minister said they were in favor of everyone “being able to express themselves freely”. “The prefect abused his power and therefore he must be sanctioned for that” insisted Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

But the words of the rebel towards the president of the university, the first to have canceled the conference, were also harsh. Jean-Luc Mélenchon seemed to compare the president of the establishment to the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann: “‘I did nothing, said Eichmann, I only obeyed the law as it was in my country ‘. So they say that they obey the law and they implement immoral measures which are not justified by anything or anyone. A parallel that shocked and was deemed “unbearable” by Minister Aurore Bergé. But the rebel defended himself and denied a Nazi comparison. He explained on the microphone of BFMTV making an allusion to a live performance by Hanna Arendt in which she describes “how absolute evil always tries to dilute itself by compartmentalizing tasks. Each of those who have accomplished a task says to themselves ‘I am not a criminal’, that’s is what Eichmann said.

04/19/24 – 3:59 p.m. – After Macron’s video for Hayer, LFI denounces Hollande’s shadow behind Glucksman

LFI spares none of their competitors, especially not when the shadow of a President of the Republic in office or formerly at the head of the party hovers behind a candidate. While the party intends to seize the National Campaign Accounts Commission for a video of Emmanuel Macron supporting Valérie Hayer relayed by the Elysée, it criticizes Raphaël Glucksmann for wanting to “return to the pre-Macron era with Hollande”. This time it is not so much the support of François Hollande that poses a problem, but what he represents for the rebel left, explained the head of the list Manon Aubry. “There are many of us in my generation who got involved in politics precisely in the face of the failure of the left and the failure of François Hollande which I do not wish to repeat” she declared on the set of France 2 this Friday morning.

04/19/24 – 1:18 p.m. – Macron decided to “help” his majority lagging behind in the polls

To great ills, great remedies. While the list of the presidential majority is slipping in the poll results and being overtaken by Raphaël Glucksmann, Emmanuel Macron has decided to invest personally in the campaign. Only two days after his appearance and his stated support for Valérie Hayer in the European Parliament – he declared that he had “the right candidate and the right ideas – it was to the campaign HQ that he went this Friday morning as the relay BFMTV. The opportunity to reboost the troops, but also to promise his intervention and a boost in the campaign: “I thank Valérie for wearing our colors with talent and competence. Where I am I will try to help you and bring my forces at a few key moments of the campaign”. The Head of State also recalled the issue of the election, putting a little pressure on the Macronists who have not convinced so far: “This election is essential for what we represent, for what we are and for what we defend in Europe even though the European Union has never faced so many challenges in its history.”