Two days before the first round of legislative elections in France, how do our Belgian neighbours view this political event?
How will the French vote this Sunday, June 30 in the legislative elections? On the other side of the border, in Belgium, our neighbors, also accustomed to the tumult of political life, are watching the situation closely.
“It’s our neighboring country, we still want everyone to be happy, if things degenerate on that side, how will things happen with us?”, asks a passerby, interviewed by BFM Grand Lille in Tournai, a Belgian town just 30 minutes from Lille.
According to the latest polls in France, the National Rally is still leading the polls two days before the first round. According to an Elabe poll for BFMTV and La Tribune Dimanche published this Friday, June 28, the National Rally is credited with 36% of voting intentions and could obtain a solid relative majority, or even an absolute majority.
Projections which are far from going unnoticed on the Belgian border. “I am very worried because I have the impression that politics is moving more towards the extreme right,” says a Tournaisian.
Repercussions at European level
Our border neighbors themselves voted on June 9 to elect their deputies. But the French election and in particular the rise of far-right parties is particularly scrutinized.
“Some are happy about it, some fear seeing a far-right group in an additional country getting closer to power, exercising responsibilities and having an influence, not only in France, but also at the European level,” indicates Benjamin Biard , political scientist in Brussels.
He continues: “If the far right manages to exercise responsibilities within the French executive, this will have repercussions, particularly at the level of the Council of Ministers of the European Union.”
On Sunday, cross-border residents will have their eyes glued to France to find out the results of the first round.
Alexandre Collin, with Sylvain Allemand
