The situation of instability where the Fifth French Republic is located (The country's fifth prime minister has resigned since Macron's victory in the April 2022 presidential elections, the third since the early legislative elections of July 2024) lends itself easily to caricature and laughter. This is especially true because Macron has repeatedly refused to entrust the formation of a government to the left, and has therefore appointed right-wing prime ministers close to him, arguing that this is a way of promoting stability. Inspectors Clouseau and Gadget, and Louis de Funès, hover over the scene.
The mood quickly darkens when, in addition to political instability, we add the serious financial fragility of the French state, with a real risk of bankruptcy. This could lead to an extremely conflictive social situation, with a clear problem of leadership and responsiveness on the part of French democracy. It is easy to understand that all this only serves the interests of Marine Le Pen's National Rally and her candidate for prime minister, Jordan Bardella. It is worth remembering that Macron won the 2022 presidential election in a head-to-head runoff with Marine Le Pen. The leader of the French far-right has been disqualified from running for office since March, convicted of embezzlement of European funds, but that does not prevent her from continuing her political career and remaining at the head of a party with a solid voting intention that has long been able to attract more than a third of the total French electorate. The disqualification conviction will likely further strengthen Le Pen's electoral standing, given the far-right's ability to capitalize on victimhood.
France's problems are, to a large extent, the problems of Europe, and therefore of all of us. A France governed by the far right, and furthermore in a state of financial bankruptcy, is lethal for the European Union. Imagining the worst (the worst, but by no means impossible), if Germany were to also come under the control of Alternative for Germany, it would already be two lethal blows. Both President Macron and Chancellor Merz are trying to prevent the advances of their respective far right parties by largely adopting their social proposals. Given the current situation, they don't seem to be getting ahead.
Copying the arguments, discourse, and policies of the far right from the traditional right, and also from the center-left, does not dilute or slow them down: on the contrary, it seems more like throwing more fuel on the fire. Nor does it help to fall into the trap of placing left-wing parties on a supposedly equivalent extreme, on the other side, to the far right: they may be liked more or less, but today there are no far left parties that deny basic rights to large sectors of the population. In any case, the need to react to the reactionary wave is not a play on words: it is a European urgency. And French, right now.
