“A far-left Popular Front”, the risky (and misleading) argument of Macronie

POLITICS – How to break the deadlock? Since the President of the Republic dissolved the National Assembly and called early legislative elections, his camp, the “ central block ”, finds itself trapped between the left united behind the banner “New Popular Front” and the National Rally strengthened after the European elections and the rallying of the (contested) president of the Republicans, Éric Ciotti.

Ten days before the first round, pollsters estimate that the Renaissance – MoDem – Horizons coalition could disappear in most of the territories on the evening of June 30, and leave room for numerous NFP – RN duels for the second round. Depending on the voting intentions, for the moment it only seems to be able to target a maximum of a hundred deputies.

In this inevitably perilous context, Emmanuel Macron and his troops are adopting a well-known strategy: embodying the camp of reason, facing “ to extreme. » An argument proven during previous elections. Worn out in these uncertain times? This speech which puts the RN and the Popular Front back to back is not only misleading. It is also risky.

The Popular Front is not far left

In the mouths of the tenors of the presidential camp, the two camps are indeed to be put on the same level for a question of equal dangerousness. On Sunday, the president of MoDem François Bayrou, for example, mentioned a double danger on LCI, “ the risk of having the far right in power, and the risk of having in power a gathering that I hesitate to call the Popular Front. »

At the same time, the Minister of SMEs Olivia Grégoire indicated on RTL that she would vote blank in the event of a duel in the second round between a candidate from the RN and the Popular Front, “ unless he’s a moderate socialist. » In reality, it was the President of the Republic himself who set these lines for the campaign at a press conference in Paris last week when he summed up the situation in a binary choice: me or chaos with “ the two extremes. »

However, drawing an equality between the two is misleading, even fallacious. On the one hand, the new Popular Front is an alliance of different components of the left. It brings together the PS, the PCF, EELV and LFI around a program, certainly, of “ breakup » with the policies carried out in recent years, but which has little to do with the extreme left.

Within this alliance – rebalanced in favor of the Socialist Party compared to the Nupes – France Insoumise is undoubtedly the most tense component, notably due to its ” brutality » in public debate. But its strategy, its values ​​and its program make it a radical left-wing formation. The Popular Front has made room for the far-left movement, with the NPA and the candidacy of Philippe Poutou in Aude. But its weight is residual, with one constituency out of 577. We will also recall that the Ministry of the Interior does not classify Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party in the ” leftmost » during the various elections, contrary to the public declarations of his supervisory minister Gérald Darmanin.

Further normalize the far right

On the other hand, the National Rally is indeed a far-right party, as the Council of State confirms each time it is questioned, with all due respect to its leaders who would like to get rid of this label. .

In addition to this political color attributed by the administrative institution, we can cite the history of the formation (co-founded in 1972 by Pierre Bousquet, a former collaborationist who served in the Charlemagne division of the Waffen SS), its allies on the international scene , some of its proposals and its nationalist and Europhobic software, as so many reasons which place the RN in this precise place on the political spectrum.

Therefore, if we properly understand the advantages of a strategy which consists of putting the two main opposition forces, the National Rally and the United Left, in the same infamous basket of ” extreme », this speech is no less risky. First of all, it contributes to further normalizing the extreme right and to confusing voters’ political points of reference. As some left-wing elected officials do when they wrongly bring Emmanuel Macron closer to the RN.

This strategy, which is often accompanied by a criticism of the economic positions of ” extreme “, also tends to prevent moral arguments against the far right in general, and the formation led by Jordan Bardella in particular, a movement which has always had difficulty denying its roots. Especially since on this ground, the repeated attacks of Macronie against rebellious France, and by contagion the Popular Front, also tend to blur the landscape.

LFI, target of all criticism

In unison with his camp, Emmanuel Macron criticized the Mélenchonist group for being “ anti-Semitic “, in addition to being ” anti-parliamentarian », Wednesday June 12 during his press conference. In short: who spreads hatred, and creates chaos in the Assembly. A regular criticism which is based in particular on the hazardous or doubtful outings of certain of its members, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in connection, among other things, with the defense of the Palestinian cause. Note, however, that no LFI deputy has been convicted for this reason and that the Popular Front is committed to fighting all forms of racism and anti-Semitism. It is written in black and white in his program.

In a sort of mirror effect, the National Rally is increasingly exempt from this trial. In any case, Macronie is less talkative about her case. However, the party, founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, for whom the gas chambers were a “ detail of the story ”, still has links with violent identity movements and counts sulphurous personalities in its ranks.

We can, for example, mention the executives or elected officials convicted of inciting hatred, the candidates disconnected for racist or anti-Semitic remarks, or the Varois Frédéric Boccaletti, elected deputy under the colors of the RN in 2022, who in the past ran a bookstore selling negationist works (that is to say denying or relativizing the existence of the Shoah). He was reappointed for these early legislative elections, just like other candidates with controversial profiles.

A track record coupled with a certain vision of the rule of law which further distances the National Rally from the new Popular Front. And which illustrates to what extent the strategy of the Macron camp does not stand up to reality. An additional risk taking when we are about to ask, once again, left-wing voters to “ to block. »

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