Macron’s Liberal Coup [Maxime Benatouil | 02.08.2024 | tribunemag.co.uk]
In a desperate attempt to cling on to power, Macron is blocking the French left from government. If this assault on democratic principle is not defeated, it will all but ensure the far-right’s victory in the next election.
The staging is neat. President Emmanuel Macron interrupts the night of the European elections to address the nation. He is right that the situation is serious: Renaissance, his centrist party, has just suffered a heavy defeat, garnering only 14.6 percent of the votes cast, a long way behind the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), which came first with 31.37 percent. In an attempt to keep control of a political field slipping away him, the head of state announces the dissolution of the National Assembly and calls for snap elections in three weeks. He thus complies with the demands of the RN, a party founded by former Waffen SS members and ultras from French Algeria, and paves the way to their political cohabitation.
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