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How Emanuel Macron helped keep the French far right at the forefront

On May 6, 2017, the day Emanuel Macron was elected President of France, after running on a platform that advocated the “neither left nor right” dogma and defeated his far-right opponent, Marin Le Pen, the new president made a promise to French people: that the country would never again see a far-right candidate reach the second round of the presidential election. “Our task is enormous,” Macron said as he took office. For the next five years, my responsibility will be to allay fears, to revitalize French optimism. I will fight with all my might against the divisions that are undermining us. unity of the people and the country. “Today, almost five years later, France woke up to the result of the first round of the presidential election – and the prospect, once again, of a second round between Macron and Le Pen.

The current president (of the La République En Marche party, founded by Macron in 2016) won 27.6% of the vote on Sunday, followed by Le Pen (National Coalition, former National Front) with 23.4%. Jean-Luc Melanson, the leader of the left-wing La France Insoumise party, came close but failed to advance to the second round with 22%. Then came Eric Zemour (Reconquête), the racist candidate who ran on a platform based solely on the “big replacement” theory, with 7.1%.

France’s traditional parties are on the verge of extinction: Valerie Pecres, of the right-wing Republicans, garnered only 4.8%, while the Greens’ Janic Zadot rose to 4.6% and the Socialist candidate (and mayor of Paris), Ann Indalgo, only 1.8%. None of the three reached the 5% threshold to be fully reimbursed for their election expenses, effectively jeopardizing the future of their parties. Even worse ). Macron had many shortcomings, but that really hurts. He failed to honor his first and most critical promise to the French.

In the run-up to the first round, Macron admitted that he “failed to contain” the rise of the far right. It would be more honest to admit that he has done too little to prevent it. In five years, France has shifted dramatically to the right, to the point where not only Zemour, but also Pecres have formulated far-right theories such as the “big replacement” conspiracy, which states that white Europeans are being replaced by “non-” Europeans “, although Pekres later tried to distance himself from her initial remarks.

The media has no small share of responsibility, as they let anti-Islamic rhetoric prevail and fueled a morbid fascination with Zemour’s views that greatly favored his candidacy. But instead of distancing himself from the far right, Macron played dangerously, adopting a tough stance on immigration that saw police destroying refugee tents in Calais, citing the language of the far-right Action Française group founder at the Assemblée Nationale in the Assembléé Nationale. “Great Soldier” General Petten, the French leader of the 1940s who collaborated with the Nazis, and gave interviews to far-right magazines.

During the campaign, Macron condemned Zemour’s views, but just last year, Zemour revealed that his president had asked for a brief briefing on immigration measures he would like to see implemented. Addressing Le Pen on a television show in February 2021, Macron’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanen said he was “very lenient with immigration”. In 2020, when Zemour took to the streets, Macron personally called on him to express his support. However, in 2021, when leftists, including Melanson, were targeted with death threats by far-right extremists in a video calling for “kill leftists”, the president remained silent. His government has failed to condemn the growing number of attacks by far-right groups in Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg and Nantes. How is this supposed to convince left-wing voters that Macron’s election on April 24 will help curb the far-right threat?

The president has essentially spent five years retaining the far right as his only credible opponent for 2022, but one thing has changed since 2017: this time, Lepen has a real chance of winning. Polls are currently showing an extremely close race, with Macron at 54% versus Le Pen’s 46% for the second round – a much smaller margin than in 2017, when Macron beat her by 66% to 34%. . These polls bring to mind the outcome of Brexit. A Le Pen victory should terrorize anyone interested in democracy and peace. Le Monde has warned that “the changes it is planning to make to the constitution are aimed at implementing an authoritarian system”; and has repeatedly stated its “admiration” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In his speech Sunday night, Melanson said France must now “choose between two evils” and called on voters “not to vote for Le Pen”. One of these two is definitely worse than the other, but the choice is nevertheless painful for the French left. Many feel betrayed after five years of Macron’s liberal, right-wing reforms that have widened the gap between rich and poor, given more power to the police and failed to implement any real measures to curb carbon emissions.

Macron now has two weeks to change course and show the left that he cares about climate and social justice. It could, for example, finally commit to implementing the 100 green measures it requested from French citizens before rejecting almost all of them in 2021. It could reject the widely hated pension reform. It could announce a real plan to save the heavily underfunded Health and Education systems. This would “unite and reconcile” many more voters than one could ever bring to the far-right camp. It may be too late, but it’s worth a try.

Source: Capital

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