9:02 p.m., Sunday June 9. France falls into a dizzying unknown, after the presidential announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly. Since then, the campaign has been in full swing to elect the 577 deputies who will make up the National Assembly and who will shape the future majority that will govern the country. This Sunday, June 23, François Hollande and Fabien Roussel called on the rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon to “put himself aside” – in the words of the first – in the interest of the union of the left, after the leader of LFI said the day before that he was ready to take on the role of Prime Minister. For its part, the presidential camp – Rachida Dati and Gabriel Attal, in particular – assured that Emmanuel Macron “has changed”.
The tackle of the day: Hollande and Roussel reframe Mélenchon
“Do we want to win the left or create conflict? If he wants to be of service to the New Popular Front, Jean-Luc Mélenchon must step aside. When there is so much rejection, we must have a sense of “general interest”, declared the former President of the Republic, François Hollande, in a video published on this Sunday June 23. The day before, the leader of LFI proclaimed on France 5 that he was “obviously” ready to become Prime Minister if the left-wing alliance won the legislative elections, despite the reluctance of several voices in his camp.
“The idea of appointing Jean-Luc Mélenchon as Prime Minister, which he himself fuels, has never been the subject of an agreement between the forces of the Popular Front. This is false and unbearable”, added Fabien Roussel, the national secretary of the PCF.
The promise of the day: Attal and Dati announce a “change”
I promise, there will be “a change”. One week before the first round of the legislative elections, the Macronist camp, led by Gabriel Attal, assures that governance would be more collaborative in the event of victory against the New Popular Front and the National Rally. “There will be, whatever the result, a before and an after,” insisted Gabriel Attal on the set of the RTL/M6/Le Figaro Grand Jury, noting that “this is the first time in more than 25 years that the French vote for legislative elections during their mandate.
Faced with the “challenges”, Macron himself “has changed”, added the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, guest of LCI. The Head of State “knows where he wants to go, where he wants to take the French”, she continued, also promising, in the event of victory “a new project, a new governance, a new vision, a new form of authority and firmness on all subjects.
Today’s demonstration: feminist rallies against the far right
Thousands of people demonstrated this Sunday in Paris, but also elsewhere in France, to denounce the “danger” for women’s rights that a victory for the National Rally would represent. Feminist associations, unions and NGOs, which called for the rallies, denounced the “facade feminism” of the far right – accusations rejected by the National Rally, which castigates “caricatures”.
“If the RN comes to power there will no longer be a ministry for women’s rights, that means no more specific public policy in favor of gender equality and women’s rights”, underlined Clémence Pajot, of the National Federation of Information Centers on the Rights of Women and Families (FNCIDFF), on the sidelines of the Parisian demonstration.
Today’s column: a collective of diplomats alert against the RN
A collective of 170 diplomats and former diplomats published a petition this Sunday in the daily The world against a victory of the extreme right in the next legislative elections, which according to them would “weaken France and Europe while the war is here”. “We saw Russia invade sovereign states and destroy with a furlong of tanks what had guaranteed peace on the European continent. […] We have seen terrorism strike democracies, illiberal regimes reduce pluralism and media freedom,” they wrote. And citing the “serious attacks on institutions and pluralism in Hungary”, where the far right governs, but also “in the United States under Donald Trump” or even the “loss of international influence of Brazil under Jair Bolsonaro” or “of the United Kingdom after Brexit”.
“Our adversaries will read a victory of the extreme right as a French weakening and an invitation: to interference in our national politics, to aggressiveness against Europe, including militarily, to the economic vassalization of France and the continent”, list the 170 diplomats and former diplomats.
Today’s interview: “One of the possibilities for the RN in power could be civil war…”
Of Hexagonal Feverhistory of major political crises, France and the Jews Passing by The Left in power: the legacy of the Popular Front, his classic works are essential reading to understand the current political tumults. Michel Winock, one of our most eminent historians, has worked extensively on socialism as well as the far right and the question of anti-Semitism. Twilight of Macronism, possible arrival of the far right to power (“There is no precedent in our country, except the regime of Marshal Pétain”), myth of the Popular Front, purges within LFI … Now aged 87, the emeritus university professor at Science Po analyzes for L’Express the historical issues of these legislative elections. Read our interview.