Category Archives: Marine Le Pen

Performance of French far right, who ‘see Europe as the problem’, fears German foreign minister – as it happened

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Marine Le Pen’s victory has been applauded by other far-right leaders in Europe. Santiago Abascal, who heads the far-right Vox party across the border in Spain, called it a “victory of hope, freedom and security for the French people”, while André Ventura, leader of Portugal’s Chega party, hailed “a great victory”, adding: “Europe is waking up! Soon, it will be Portugal!”

Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and the leader of the far-right League party, accused Macron of undemocratic behaviour after the French president called for a united front to head off Le Pen’s National Rally in the second round.

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Far-right National Rally in reach of being dominant French party after election first round

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RN has won about 34% of national vote, exit polls suggest, as Marine Le Pen targets absolute majority

Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration party is in reach of becoming the biggest political force in the French parliament after a historically high showing in the first round of snap parliament elections.

The left and centrists immediately began to call for tactical voting to try to stop the far-right before next Sunday’s final round runoff, after exit polls indicated the National Rally (RN) had won about 34% of the national vote share with the leftwing alliance in second place and Emmanuel Macron’s grouping trailing in a distant third.

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Voter turnout in France’s parliamentary election at near-40-year high

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Ballot could enable Marine Le Pen’s National Rally to form government as polls suggest support for party has grown

Voter turnout across France has surged to a near four-decade high as voters cast their ballots in the first round of high stakes, snap parliamentary elections that could lead to the far-right party of Marine Le Pen forming a government in a historic first.

While polls suggest support for Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigrant National Rally (RN) has strengthened in recent days, the outcome of the two-round election, called three weeks ago by the president, Emmanuel Macron, following the crushing defeat of his allies in the European parliamentary elections, remains highly uncertain.

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Macron told ‘people detest you’ as far-right bids to be biggest party in France

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Centrists are fighting for their survival in Sunday’s poll, amid fears the president’s snap election has unleashed chaos

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist grouping was fighting for survival this weekend before the first round of France’s high-stakes snap election, which could see the far-right National Rally (RN) become the biggest force in parliament.

Macron, who warned last week that France risked “civil war” if Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration RN, or the leftwing New Popular Front coalition, came to power, said at the European summit in Brussels that “uninhibited racism and antisemitism” had been unleashed in France.

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Far-right National Rally strengthening in final polls ahead of vote

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Marine Le Pen’s party has pledged to boost spending power, slash immigration and restore law and order

The far-right National Rally (RN) has strengthened in final polls, including one suggesting it could be on course for a historic parliamentary majority, as candidates fought for votes on the last day of campaigning before the first-round ballot in France’s most momentous election for decades.

Two days before Sunday’s ballot, two polls on Friday showed Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, France-first party pulling steadily further ahead in a race it has led since President Emmanuel Macron called the shock ballot almost three weeks ago after the defeat of his centrists in the European parliamentary election.

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‘It’s going to be tight’: Macron’s centrists struggle to deter voters from backing far right

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With the first round of France’s snap election on Sunday, the president’s allies are desperate to shore up support

Standing in a courtyard framed by the white walls of one of Marseille’s Armenian churches, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, France’s secretary of state tasked with citizenship, took a deep breath, choosing her words carefully as she addressed a voter who had admitted she was considering switching allegiances to the far right.

Agresti-Roubache, born to a family with Algerian roots, led with the heart, describing how concerns over the snap parliamentary election results had left her elderly mother “in tears” daily. When the tactic proved futile, she changed tack. “When you don’t have power, you can say whatever people want to hear,” said Agresti-Roubache.

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Le Pen claims far right will win absolute majority and take over military decisions

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National Rally leader says Macron ‘won’t have choice’ but to appoint her protege as PM and he would make decisions on Ukraine support

Marine Le Pen has said she expects her far-right National Rally (RN) party to win an absolute majority in France’s general election, form a government and take over at least some defence and armed forces decision-making – including on Ukraine.

France’s constitution states that the president is head of the armed forces and chairs France’s national defence committees, but also that the prime minister is “responsible for national defence”, leaving the precise role of the premier open to interpretation.

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EU braces for the nightmare scenario- a eurosceptic France

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National Rally win may hamper bloc’s ability to get things done and pose existential question over French role

On the night her party swept to a crushing victory in European elections and France’s president triggered a political earthquake by dissolving parliament, Marine Le Pen, the longtime leader of the National Rally (RN), could not have been much clearer.

“Tonight’s message – including the dissolution – is also addressed to the leaders in Brussels,” she said. “This great victory for patriotic movements is in alignment with the direction of history … We are ready to take power if the people so wish.”

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Far-right French candidate attacked by masked assailants on campaign trail

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National Rally’s Hervé Breuil, 68, hospitalised after being assaulted as he handed out flyers in central France before snap elections

Masked assailants have assaulted a far-right candidate on the campaign trail ahead of France’s snap parliamentary election, in the latest incident of violence targeting politicians across Europe.

Police said Hervé Breuil, a candidate for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party, was assaulted as he handed out flyers on Thursday morning with four others in the industrial city of Saint Étienne, in central France.

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France’s far-right leader says he will not be PM without absolute majority

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National Rally’s Jordan Bardella insists he would need to govern free of partners if party wins parliamentary elections

Jordan Bardella, the leader of the National Rally (RN), has said he will not accept the job of prime minister unless his far-right party wins an absolute majority in parliament because he would not have the freedom to act “in the daily lives of French people” as he sees fit.

Polls suggest the RN is on course to win the snap parliamentary elections called by Emmanuel Macron after the Eurosceptic, anti-immigration party’s crushing victory in European parliament elections earlier this month.

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‘This could end up ugly’: after Macron’s gamble, will the far right seize power in France?

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Marine Le Pen’s party is breaking record high scores across vast areas of the country, polls show, with an increase in its influence inevitable

It is 8pm on Sunday 7 July. Polling stations have just closed after the second round of snap French parliamentary elections – the country’s most momentous ballot in living memory – and the first estimations flash up on the nation’s TV screens.

President Emmanuel Macron has lost his gamble. The National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen has more than trebled its tally of deputies in the assemblée nationale to just over 290: an absolute majority. France’s next government will be far right.

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French centrists losing sleep after Macron’s gamble on snap election

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President’s move viewed as ‘Russian roulette’ after far-right support reached record high in European elections

France’s prime minister, Gabriel Attal, stared ahead with his arms folded while another minister covered his face with his hands as Emmanuel Macron gathered top government figures at the Élysée last Sunday to make the shock announcement that he would dissolve parliament and call a snap legislative election in the wake of a win at the polls by Marine Le Pen’s party. The mood, said Attal, was “grave”.

One senior centrist figure said this week they had not slept properly since the announcement of a campaign that will be the shortest in modern French history at barely three weeks. Some party supporters said their world had been turned upside down. “We’re going to get out there and do our best,” said a government minister.

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Les Républicains leader vows to stay on despite revolt over Le Pen alliance plans

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Éric Ciotti was thought to have locked party’s headquarters, where colleagues were to meet in bid to oust him

Éric Ciotti, the leader of France’s mainstream rightwing party, Les Républicains, has vowed he will stay in his job despite key members of his party voting unanimously to oust him over his proposed alliance with the far right.

Ciotti was believed to have been holed up in his office on Wednesday after locking members out of his party’s Paris headquarters amid a mass revolt over his call for an alliance with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.

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Emmanuel Macron defends snap election and calls for moderate parties to unite against far right – as it happened

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Macron is now speaking about economic goals.

Speaking at a press conference, Emmanuel Macron said that in Sunday’s vote in the European election citizens have expressed their concerns and difficulties. We must bring a democratic response, he said.

Returning to the sovereign people is, in my opinion, the only republican decision in this context.

Do we think that (Republicans party leader) Mr. Ciotti - and The Republicans who follow him - who up until now explained that the ruling majority was too lax and that we needed to rein in our public spending faster, would govern effectively with the (far-right) National Rally, whose program has been independently costed at about 100 billion euros a year for our taxpayers?

We must, first and foremost, continue relentlessly to act for greater security and (state) firmness, and implement the laws that have been passed, like our European texts, to reduce illegal immigration.

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Les Républicains leader says he wants alliance with France’s far-right National Rally

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Éric Ciotti’s announcement welcomed by Marine Le Pen as ‘brave choice’ but seen as betrayal by members of mainstream right

The leader of France’s mainstream right has said he would back an alliance with the far right in the snap legislative elections later this month, shocking opponents and party members and throwing French politics into further disarray.

Éric Ciotti’s announcement, welcomed by Marine Le Pen as a “brave choice”, is a historic departure for the opposition right and sparked accusations of betrayal from high-profile members of Les Républicains (LR).

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‘We’ve all got to mobilise against the far right’: inside a French town that voted for Le Pen

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In L’Aisne, where the National Rally won over 50% of votes in the European elections, there is unease about the snap election

“Everyone is in total shock,” said Baptiste Lopata, a radiologist, sitting in his trade union office in the small northern French town of Soissons. “Now we’ve all got to mobilise against the far right.”

When Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, far-right National Rally (RN) won a historic victory in the European elections on Sunday night, its highest scores were here, in the north-eastern département of l’Aisne, where it won over 50%, and even 60% in some rural villages, compared with a 31% score nationwide.

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Three possible outcomes of Macron’s shocking snap election

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President may slow the seemingly unstoppable far-right rise, but find himself trapped in a splintered parliament

Two years into his second term and with three more still to run, Emmanuel Macron’s ratings are not what anyone would call great: 65% disapproval, 34% approval. Since losing his absolute majority in the assemblée nationale in 2022, he has struggled.

Parliament has been increasingly paralysed, with the government relying on ad hoc deals with increasingly reluctant opposition parties or despised constitutional tools to pass unpopular legislation.

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European elections’ main impact likely to be felt in national capitals

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Mainstream groups hold on to majority in European parliament but far right gains weaken governments in France and Germany

So in the end, with a couple of alarming wobbles, the centre held. As polls predicted, the mainstream pro-EU alliance of centre-right, centre-left, liberal and Green parties in the European parliament hung on, quite comfortably, to its majority.

Europe’s national conservative and far-right forces made big gains, ending up with just under a quarter of MEPs in the 720-seat assembly – their highest tally ever. But they did not do uniformly well, and in some places fared worse than forecast.

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French PM says voters for far right may end up like Britons ‘who cry over Brexit’

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Gabriel Attal cautions against backing Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which leads solidly in polls for European elections

The French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has said voters choosing the far right in the European elections next week risk becoming like British people who regret backing Brexit.

“Don’t be like the British who cried after Brexit,” he told RTL radio on Thursday. “A large majority of British people regret Brexit and sometimes regret not turning out to vote, or voting for something that was negative for their country.

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Le Pen invites Meloni to form ‘super-group’ in European parliament

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French far right leader suggests alliance of ID and ECR groups, including Italian PM’s Brothers of Italy

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has suggested the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, join forces with her in a new alliance, as the EU’s resurgent but divided nationalist parties gear up for European parliamentary elections next month.

The move came as European centre-left parties reiterated a warning to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, that they would not support her bid for a second term if it entailed the backing of hard-right parties – including Meloni’s.

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