France news and discussions

[weatheriscool]

Macron's party loses big in France's regional elections
Source: Axios

French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, La République en Marche, garnered only 10.9 % of the vote in Sunday's regional elections, which saw bigger wins for mainstream left-and-right wing parties, according to an exit poll by Elabe.

Why it matters: Sunday's regional elections are seen as a barometer for next year's national elections, which are only 10 months away, Politico reports.

The good news for Macron is that Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) also performed worse than expected on Sunday, per The Guardian.

The state of play: About 34% of the vote went to left-wing parties and about 29% went to right-wing parties, while the National Rally walked away with 19% of the vote, reports Politico.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/macron-party-lose ... 2d8b3.html

[Yuli Ban]

Irony! Macron's been courting the far-right for a couple years now to bleed support from Le Pen and all he's accomplished is turning the left and center against him while the right flocks to Le Pen for the real thing. I've no idea why he thought this would work.

[Yuli Ban]

France on the verge of a nervous breakdown

In two decades covering France, I’ve never witnessed such political hysteria.

There was the slap in the face given to President Emmanuel Macron last week; there was the bag of flour poured on the head of the hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Saturday; there was the absurd letter from retired generals forecasting civil war last month.

The country seems to be heading for a nervous breakdown as it meanders toward regional elections on Sunday and an explosive presidential election in 10 months’ time.

A question arises. Is the hysteria spontaneous or is it — in part at least — organized?

All the incidents described above were the work of people involved with the far right (though not necessarily directly linked to Marine Le Pen or her far-right National Rally party).

The French expert on the Arab World, Gilles Kepel, has defined what he calls “atmospheric jihadism” — a generalized state of mind that promotes violent Islamist radicalism. France is suffering from a kind of “atmospheric Lepennism” — a state of permanent anxiety, which favors the advance of the ultra-nationalist, anti-European right.

This is promoted by a strategy of denigration and exaggeration (and frequent lies) by far-right websites and by Le Pen and her supporters.

Damien Tarel, the unemployed young man who slapped the president, said at his trial that Macron had hastened the “decay” of France. France’s most popular, far-right commentator, Eric Zemmour, told his TV audience that Macron “got what he deserved” because he had “desecrated” the presidency.

Politicians and commentators of the left and traditional right contribute to the trend. Macron is not just misguided, they say, he is “violent” or “destructive.” Opinion polls suggest that the mainstream opposition benefits little from this exaggerated miserabalism — but Le Pen does.

[erowind]

.

[Yuli Ban]

French far right beaten in regional elections

Mainstream candidates delivered a stinging setback to France’s far right in regional elections Sunday, thwarting its hopes of winning control of a region for the first time and slowing its momentum ahead of the presidential contest next year.

National Rally leader Marine Le Pen quickly conceded that the far-right, anti-immigration party failed to win any of mainland France’s 12 regions. She immediately looked forward to next year's presidential vote, saying it “appears more than ever to be the election that allows for changes of politics and politicians.”

Le Pen complained that the organization of the two rounds of voting over successive weekends had been “disastrous and erratic.” Still, the National Rally's showing in Sunday's decisive runoffs suggested that the party remains anathema to many voters. It accrued no more than 20% of votes nationally, the Ifop polling agency calculated, trailing both the mainstream right and the combined showing of green and leftist candidates.

[caltrek]

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris Will Reopen in 2024, Five Years After Disastrous Fire
by By Joseph Ataman and Jeevan Ravindran
September 18, 2021

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/notre ... index.html

Introduction:

(CNN) The Notre Dame cathedral is on track to reopen to the public in 2024 as the cathedral has now been entirely secured, two years after the disastrous fire that destroyed large parts of the 850-year-old building.

In a statement Saturday, the public body responsible for its conservation and restoration said the securing of the cathedral had been completed on schedule.

Elements of the "safety phase," included wrapping and protecting the cathedral's gargoyles, reinforcing the flying buttresses, fortifying the gables and removing burned scaffolding, according to the collective Friends of Notre Dame de Paris.

"That means that we're officially saying that the cathedral is now saved, that it's solid on its pillars, that its walls are solid," General Jean-Louis Georgelin, president of the organization responsible for the restoration told CNN affiliate BFMTV Saturday.

"We'll be able to firmly go ahead with the phase of restoring and rebuilding the parts destroyed by the fire, so that it's ready to reopen for services and public visits in 2024," he added.

In this file photo dated Thursday, April 15, 2021, Notre Dame cathedral is shrouded in scaffolding in Paris.
AP Photo/Francois Mori, FILE

[caltrek]

France Braces for Presidential Run of Eric Zemmour, a Trump-like Figure
by Cain Burdeau
October 22, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/france-b ... ke-figure/

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) — Is France seeing the rise of its own version of Donald Trump?

France's presidential campaign ahead of April elections is being turned on its head by Eric Zemmour, a 63-year-old best-selling Jewish author, journalist, polemicist and television personality who has become the talk of the nation due to his extreme and provocative right-wing views on Muslims, women, French history, the media, the European Union and much else.

“You can call him a shock jock, but in France a shock jock must be an intellectual of sorts,” Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, a Paris-based journalist and political commentator, told Uncommon Decency, a news podcast. “He has changed what would have been an extremely boring presidential election into something unpredictable and very interesting.”

In recent weeks, Zemmour has grabbed much of the attention in French media as polls show him getting up to 17% of the vote in first-round balloting and edging out all other rivals to President Emmanuel Macron. Still, Macron is expected to pull in the most votes in the first round and win a run-off despite widespread dissatisfaction with his presidency. His approval rating is stuck around 41%.

Zemmour, who is not affiliated with any political party, has not announced his intention to run, but he has surrounded himself with campaign staff and opened an election headquarters in central Paris. Most pundits see it as an inevitable that he will enter the race for the Elysee and view that his tour of France to tout his latest book serves his political purposes.

[wjfox]

France bans wild animals in circuses

18/11/2021

French lawmakers voted on Thursday to end wild animals being used in live circus shows, spelling an end to performing tigers, lions or bears.

Performances of wild animals will be prohibited in two years and owning them outlawed in seven years, under the wide-ranging animal rights legislation that has been under debate since 2020.

The law, once signed by President Emmanuel Macron, will also ban live dolphin shows in the next five years and immediately end mink farming, meaning the country's last operator will close.

Macron's centrist Republic on the Move (LREM) party called the legislation "a historic step in the animal rights combat".

Circus owners denounced it, while some environmentalists said it did not go far enough.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/2 ... n-circuses

[wjfox]

Paris 2024 Olympic organisers reveal audacious plans for opening ceremony

Mon 13 Dec 2021 18.00 GMT

Organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympics have unveiled a spectacular and audacious plan for the biggest opening ceremony in history, with a 6km parade of athletes in boats along the River Seine watched by more than 600,000 people. The athletes, who will be in more than 160 boats, will pass by Paris’s most iconic monuments, bridges and cultural institutions, including Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

Along the length of the Seine, the emblematic river in the heart of the city, dozens of artistic performances are expected to take place, including BMX stunt riders leaping high over bridges. The ceremony will then conclude with a final show at the Place du Trocadéro, which faces the Eiffel Tower. Not only will the opening ceremony be bigger than ever before but, for the first time, most of it will be free to spectators.

Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organising committee, told the Guardian it would be the most “audacious and accessible” opening ceremony in the Games’ history. “It’s not the easiest way to deliver the Games, but it is our duty to be really ambitious,” he said. “It is the launch of the Olympics. It has to send a strong message that those Games will be unique.

“One billion people will watch the ceremony. We want them to feel the best of France. It will be a unique combination of a sport and cultural moment, with the entire city turned into a vast Olympic stadium.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/ ... g-ceremony

[caltrek]

French Presidential Election: the Mainstreaming of Far-Right Ideas
by Philippe Marlière
February 21, 2022

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/21 ... ght-ideas/

Introduction:

(Counterpunch) There are two themes that have taken centre stage in the run-up to the first round of the French presidential election. One is a naked nationalism and the fear of foreign invasion. The other is “the enemy within”, the label the far Right has imposed upon France’s Muslim community.

Set in a reactionary climate, this presidential campaign is poised to descend into a racist and nationalistic quagmire by the time people cast their votes on 10 April, that is if it has not already.

Even by the rancid nature of this particular campaign, a new low was reached last Sunday when the conservative candidate, Valérie Pécresse of Les Républicains, warned of the danger of a “Great Replacement” at a Paris rally.

According to this conspiracy theory, the predominantly white and French Catholic population will soon be replaced by non-white immigrants coming from Africa and the Middle East, which in France is largely seen as a “Muslim threat”. So preposterous and extremist is this conspiracy theory that even far-Right candidate Marine Le Pen has refused to engage with it. By contrast, Éric Zemmour, another far-Right hopeful, has made the “Great Replacement” theory the central issue of his campaign.

The conspiracy theory, which has been cited by those who carried out mass killings in Christchurch and El Paso, was developed by French writer Renaud Camus, who described it as a “genocide by substitution” of the French indigenous population, and compared it to the genocide of the European Jews during the Second World War. In the epilogue of his 2011 Le Grand Remplacement book, Camus cites Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech as a major influence on his work.

[wjfox]

[Maximus]

French election: Far-right Le Pen closes in on Macron ahead of vote

The least a president might expect, when juggling a war in Europe with an election at home, is a bounce in the polls.

But Emmanuel Macron has discovered that all the energy he spent dealing with Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine has been of little help in France's unpredictable vote.

"Nothing is impossible," President Macron has warned, as polls suggest his far-right rival is closer than ever before to winning the presidency.

A month ago, Marine Le Pen was trailing President Macron by 10 points and fighting for a place in the second round against him.

Now she's seen as the clear favourite to challenge him for the presidency after Sunday's first round. If she does make it through to the 24 April run-off, opinion polls suggest for the first time that a Le Pen victory is within the margin of error. For this, the National Rally leader can thank two men once seen as dangerous for her campaign: her far-right rival, Eric Zemmour, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, now an international pariah.

"I would say that [Zemmour's] campaign was destroyed by Ukraine," said Gilles Paris, an election specialist for French daily Le Monde.

"His pro-Russian attitude was a burden, while Marine Le Pen was smart enough to pivot to a more moderate point of view. She was ready to accept refugees [immediately], while it took two days for Zemmour to understand that these refugees were well accepted in France."

Ms Le Pen has since picked up a good part of Eric Zemmour's votes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61029655

This could poke one massive hole in the West's response to Russia's war. I don't buy her so-called "moderation", she's owned by Putin through-and-through https://www.thedailybeast.com/frances-m ... ref=scroll.

[wjfox]

Macron and Le Pen through to second round - exit polls

19:01
Breaking

And the first exit polls are in: they show Emmanuel Macron garnered 28.1% of the votes in the first round of voting, while rival Marine Le Pen received 23.3% of the votes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-60940767

[Time_Traveller]

We do not want Le Pen anywhere near the French government, didn't WW2 teach us about the far-right wing?

[Cyber_Rebel]

There were a few polls which had Jean Luc nearly tied with her, I'm really surprised the left managed to consolidate around someone in the end, it almost worked as he did better than the last elections. To my understanding, Mélenchon is an actual socialist who wishes to form a new French Republic, addressing the higher cost of living, but at the cost of NATO membership and possibly even EU membership as well. In that vein, the far-left & far-right have been campaigning on similar issues, including economic issues which explains Le Pen's surge as well.

It's one of those moments where the centrist candidate is better for international stability, as the other options would risk further destabilizing the current moment. So now, it's up to Macron to address some economic woes of the working class, so they don't become swayed by the false promises of a demagogue.

[weatheriscool]

Macron finishes ahead of far-right leader Le Pen in first round of French presidential election
Source: Washington Post

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron appeared to clinch the top spot in the French presidential election on Sunday, for the moment holding off a nationalist challenge that would shake global politics. But far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s close second-place finish sets up a competitive runoff election on April 24.

With 97 percent of votes counted, Macron was ahead with 27 percent of the vote share and Le Pen with 24 percent. Far-left contender Jean-Luc Mélenchon was on track to come in third at 22 percent — progressively near Le Pen as the night continued, but seemingly not enough to make the runoff.

Macron, a centrist running for a second five-year term, faces a far tougher race than when he trounced Le Pen by more than 30 percentage points in the 2017 presidential runoff.

The latest polls of voter intention suggest he would now win by only four to six percentage points in a second round against her — reflecting dissatisfaction with his presidency, public concern about the rising cost of living and an effort by Le Pen to moderate her image.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... ults-2022/

[caltrek]

I know that the opening paragraphs to the article below are just a restatement of things already said in this thread. Still, it is such a nice summary I thought that I would cite it anyway.

French Get Déjà Vu as Presidential Race Pits Macron, Le Pen in Runoff
by Cain Burdeau
April 11, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/french-g ... in-runoff/

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) — French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen are headed to a second-round runoff in two weeks after they picked up the most ballots Sunday in the first round of the presidential election.

The same match-up happened five years ago in the last presidential runoff, but this time around polls suggest Le Pen has a better chance to prevail.

With her deep ties to Europe’s xenophobic and nationalist far-right movements, a Le Pen win would not just be a major upset but a historic shock to the European Union. France is the EU’s second-largest economy, the bloc’s only nuclear-armed military and, along with Germany, has great sway in steering the 27-state project, which increasingly aims to make a united Europe a global power.

In Sunday’s contest, Macron picked up about 27.8% of the vote and Le Pen took in 23.2%. Far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon came in third with nearly 22%.

For the second presidential election in a row, France’s traditional big-tent parties on the left and right — the Socialists and Republicans — failed miserably as voters across nearly all age groups were lured by the more extreme voices of Le Pen and Melenchon. The traditional mainstream parties have also obviously lost votes to Macron, a former Socialist who created his own party in 2017.

[Time_Traveller]

Macron uses climate change to attack Le Pen

April 16, 2022

In a bid to woo left-wing voters for the final round of the French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron on Saturday slammed his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen as a “climate skeptic”and trumpeted his own plans to build a green economy.

Speaking in Marseille at his only large rally ahead of the April 24 vote, the liberal incumbent billed the election as a "civilizational choice” and vowed to turn France into a “great environmental nation.”

"The choice today is clear. The far-right is a climate-skeptic project, a project that wants to leave Europe's climate ambitions, that wants to destroy windmills," Macron told nearly 3,000 people.

Dedicating most of his speech to his environmental ambitions, Macron painted his opponent’s idea to dismantle wind farms and impose a moratorium on new wind and solar energy projects in France while building new nuclear power plants as out of touch and dangerous.

https://www.politico.eu/article/france- ... ck-le-pen/

[raklian]

...that wants to destroy windmills," Macron told nearly 3,000 people.

He, the leader of France, seriously said that? I hope it was a case of mistranslation. Maybe he meant to say wind turbines.

*potential cringe*

[caltrek]

...that wants to destroy windmills," Macron told nearly 3,000 people.

He, the leader of France, seriously said that? I hope it was a case of mistranslation. Maybe he meant to say wind turbines.

*potential cringe*

The way I read it is that Macron is criticizing the far right because they, the far right, want to "destroy windmills." Not so surprising, given the far right's usual opposition to alternative energy sources across the planet.