President Emmanuel Macron is installing the first government dependent on the far-right in France’s post-war history. But paradoxically, the country may take a step toward ending the risk of a Le Pen power grab.
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The new Assemblée Nationale’s most important task is to adopt an electoral system based on proportional representation. Only then can France’s transition from a presidential to a parliamentary democracy succeed and the far right be kept in check.
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For France, the French president’s snap elections gamble is risky. From a European perspective, running that risk now is irresponsible.
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If Emmanuel Macron’s party botches the European elections in June, the French president will lose control of his three remaining years in office. Thus, he is doing what he does best: putting on a big show.
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The EU’s history is closely intertwined with the fate of its automobile industry. As China’s electric vehicles take the continent by storm, Paris has put forward a balanced proposition for how to save European producers. But to really make it work, Berlin and others have to follow.
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This weekend France and Germany celebrate a treaty that was born in discord and remains the manifestation of their continued disagreements. Yet celebrating the Franco-German myth remains an imperative of realpolitik.
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Germany is in the middle of a vibrant debate about its future foreign policy and to what extent to help Urkaine. In France, Macron decides alone. Strangely, two different political cultures produce the same policy results.
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Why are Paris and Berlin currently so at odds with each other? The simple answer is: Scholz’ EU strategy is a copycat of Macron’s. But Europe can’t take two Macrons.
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President Emmanuel Macron’s loss of a majority in France’s parliament means that little will get done in terms of domestic policy in the coming years. This could be excellent news for France.
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The French still enjoy a comparably solid social safety net. Looking closely at Emmanuel Macron's victory, it was this welfare state that helped him get reelected. And it makes the upcoming pension reform all the more challenging.
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The price of French President Emmanuel Macron’s likely historic electoral success will be the uncertainty about what follows when he leaves the scene in five years.
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Unlike 2017, the upcoming presidential election won’t be about whether France should remain in the EU. But it might turn into a debate about what France should do within it.
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