Emmanuel Macron’s battles at home means he risks losing sway in Brussels.
For the EU, the French election result was good news — but also bad news.
“The worst has been avoided,” a senior EU diplomat said, capturing the mood in Brussels on Sunday night when it became clear that the far-right National Rally would not gain a majority in parliament, as many had predicted after the first round of voting a week earlier. Instead the far right finished third, behind the left-wing alliance and Emmanuel Macron’s centrists.
Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s failure to grab the reins of the French parliament will have delighted mainstream pro-Europeans.
But that’s where the good news ends as France — alongside Germany, the other big beast in the EU, which has its own internal struggles — has now been plunged into political chaos, with no party winning enough seats for a majority. The paralysis could last months — and damage the EU.
I would’ve loved if after the last German election, the left, greens and social democrats agreed to form a hung government. Instead, the greens and social democrats got the neoliberals on board, which, while the smallest of the three, claimed some of the most important ministries and blocked anything remotely progressive ever since. And now we’re headed towards a fascist government next election cycle, because this move killed all their credibility. A hung government would’ve been sooo much better