At least 250,000 people marched in France on Saturday against the far right, in a position of strength ahead of early legislative elections called by President Emmanuel Macron, whose camp is trying to regain control with promises in favor of the power of purchase.
Unions, associations and left-wing parties had called for a “popular tidal wave” to stave off a new victory for the National Rally (RN, far right) on June 30 and July 7, after its triumph on Sunday in the European elections which led the leader of the State to dissolve the National Assembly.
In the crowd where the authorities counted 250,000 people including 75,000 in Paris (640,000 according to the CGT union), the demonstrators expressed their fear that the far right would impose itself with Jordan Bardella, 28, as prime minister. , in cohabitation with President Macron.
These figures are far below the mobilization of the 1er May 2002 when more than a million people demonstrated to say “no” to the National Front after Jean-Marie Le Pen qualified for the second round of the presidential election.
The same slogans resounded in the approximately 200 processions in the country: “Bardella get lost, the Republic is not yours”, “the youth piss off the National Front”, “no quarter for the fascists, no fascists in our neighborhoods.”
“Now it can happen,” worried Florence David, a 60-year-old trainer, in the Parisian procession.
“We are potentially in a tipping point for democracy,” said Marylise Léon, the head of the CFDT, one of the five unions which called for mobilization, two weeks before a surprise election which violently shakes up life. politics in France.
While the Euro football started Friday evening in Germany, the striker of the French team Marcus Thuram called for “fighting so that the RN does not pass”, a rare position for a top athlete level.
The French Football Federation (FFF) reacted by asking to “avoid any form of pressure and political use of the France team”.
To block the way for the far right, the main left-wing parties (the radical left of La France Insoumise, the Socialists and the Ecologists) hastily managed to ally around a common program and candidates despite their differences. on Ukraine or Gaza.
The New Popular Front alliance experienced its first tensions on Saturday after the LFI’s decision not to reinvest opponents of the party leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The sidelined elected officials denounced “a purge”. Others deplored that Adrien Quatennens, close to this leader of the radical left, was reinvested even though he was convicted in 2022 for domestic violence.
“Purge”
“Extremely shocked” by this “purge”, the boss of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier summoned the authorities of her party. The boss of the socialists Olivier Faure, for his part, judged the “eviction” of these LFI deputies “scandalous”.
The former socialist president of the Republic François Hollande (2012-2017) surprised by announcing his candidacy in Corrèze (center), despite his animosity towards LFI: “The situation was serious, more than it has ever been” , he justified.
President Macron, who is participating this weekend in a G7 in Italy and a summit on Ukraine in Switzerland, pointed out “a spectacle of great incoherence” on the left: “We are among the crazy, it is not serious “.
His Prime Minister Gabriel Attal promised on Saturday evening several measures in favor of purchasing power in the event of victory: reduction in electricity bills by 15% “from next winter”, “public” health insurance at 1 euro per day , exemption from certain taxes for first-time property buyers.
Another measure: the possibility for companies to pay their employees up to 10,000 euros in bonuses without social security contributions or taxes, despite the shortfall for state coffers.
The RN is currently leading the way in opinion polls. An Opinionway poll published on Saturday credits him with 33% of voting intentions, ahead of the New Popular Front (25%) and the presidential majority (20%).
Lagging behind, the Republican right has been tearing itself apart since Republican President Eric Ciotti’s call to ally with the RN. On Friday, the Paris court caused yet another twist by invalidating his exclusion.
Without referring specifically to France, the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni, whose country hosted the G7, said she hoped that Europe would take into account the “message” sent to the European elections, marked by a push from the extreme RIGHT.
