France now seeks a ‘European-style’ alliance – Euractiv

The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) won a surprise victory in the second round of France’s parliamentary elections, but the loose coalition of left-wing parties may be short-lived as a broad new A centre coalition is needed to form a new parliamentary majority.

France’s National Liberal (NFP) left-wing party emerged victorious in Sunday’s (July 7) legislative elections and is expected to win between 172 and 192 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s party list and the far-right National Rally (RN).

Macron’s Ensemble alliance ranks second 150-170 seats, followed by Marine Le Pen’s RN, with 132-1520 seats, and the conservative Republicans (LR), with 57-67 seats.

This means that no single political group will have an absolute majority and the political focus has been on building a massive coalition, bringing together the centre-left, centrists and conservatives, but without the far-left party France Indomitable (LFI, Left).

LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon declared victory and tried to position himself as the next leader.

“The president of the republic must bow down and acknowledge this failure, without trying to cover it up in any way,” he said. Minutes after the results were announced, he refused to “enter into negotiations” with Macron’s Ennahda party.

However, over the past few days, the idea of ​​a broad government coalition of some left-wing, centrist and some right-wing lawmakers has been gaining traction.

François Ruffin, despite being re-elected, has announced that he will no longer serve in the National Assembly with the LFI, and politicians such as Green Party leader Marine Tondelier and Xavier Bertrand, president of the Republicans party in the Hauts-de-France regional council, have hinted that they are not completely opposed to the idea.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said after the election that he would “never resolve to split the political choice into three camps” and stressed the need to “invent something great and useful.”

But the fact is that France has never tried a broad coalition, unlike the European Parliament, which relies on a traditional pro-European alliance of the center-right, liberals and center-left.

“In French politics there is an absolute, absolute negation of the other. However, the absolute enemy is those who are against democracy, that is, the extreme right”, David Cormand of the French Green Party explained to Euractiv before the election.

Elsewhere in Europe, such as Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, there are already coalition governments with more than two parties.

“The culture of compromise is the norm in many European countries. In France, we have never succeeded. The left and the right have always been polarised,” Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, MEP for French Renaissance (Renew), told Euractiv.

Like its French counterparts, Marina Mesure (GUE/NGL), an LFI member of the European Parliament, told Euractiv that LFI members of the European Parliament often leave no room for compromise, choosing to act alone in order to “never deviate” from their plans.

From Brussels to Paris, the goal is to “be consistent with what the public elected us to do. We are not afraid to be in opposition,” she said.

Intense negotiations will begin in the next few hours and will determine whether the French National Assembly can reach a broad consensus to make the European Parliament function properly.

(Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic)

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