Category Archives: France

Police, poverty and populism: how Perpignan became a laboratory for the far right

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French city’s election of a National Rally mayor has been a study in the party’s attempts to normalise itself in local politics

As Patrice Burel scooped coffee at his roastery in Perpignan, he lamented the steady closure of other shops on this narrow city centre street. “They gradually disappeared like sugar dissolving in a cup of tea,” he said, blaming crime, traffic jams and competition from out-of-town shopping centres. “I long argued for the pedestrianisation of this street.”

Then in 2020 came political change. Perpignan, with a population of 121,000 and close to the Spanish border, became the biggest city to be run by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) in 20 years. The historic city at the foot of the Pyrenees, which for decades has had some of the starkest inequality in France, is now a municipal laboratory for the far right. The new mayor, Louis Aliot, a lawyer who was formerly Le Pen’s romantic partner and is a party vice-president, picked up the pedestrianisation plan for Burel’s street, which began in 2022.

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France to deploy 30,000 police after election runoff amid fears of violence

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Move comes after attacks on government spokesperson and RN candidate in buildup to Sunday’s poll

About 30,000 police will be deployed across France on Sunday night amid fears of violence after the final results of a snap election in which the far right hopes to gain a majority in parliament.

Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, said 5,000 police would be on duty in Paris and its surrounding areas to “ensure that the radical right and radical left do not take advantage of the situation to cause mayhem”.

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French PM says ‘no place for violence and intimidation’ after candidate attacked putting up election posters – as it happened

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Gabriel Attal said candidate Prisca Thevenot and members of her campaign team were attacked by four individuals

The Ecologists’ Marine Tondelier has criticised the far right National Rally’s Jordan Bardella, arguing that his party is allowing some candidates who made racist, anti-Semitic and misogynistic comments to remain on the ballot.

The French prosecutor’s office said it opened an investigation into an assault with a weapon against a public official, after government spokesperson and candidate Prisca Thevenot and her team were attacked yesterday, the Associated Press reported.

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French critic sues after Spanish theatre-maker’s insults on stage

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Angélica Liddell, who describes herself as an ‘irresponsible artist’, read out a bad review by Stéphane Capron and called him a ‘bastard’

A Spanish theatre-maker is being sued for defamation by a French theatre critic after she read out one of his reviews on stage, flashed her bare bottom at the audience and called him a “bastard”.

In a stunt that has sparked a debate about the limits of artistic freedom in politically divisive times, Angélica Liddell, a director and performer, read out a list of negative reviews of her past work from French critics, many of whom were in attendance at her opening show of the Avignon performing arts festival on Saturday.

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Hundreds of France election candidates withdraw amid pressure over tactical approach to stopping far right – as it happened

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It was raining in Calais on election day. A thin, penetrating, miserable drizzle blowing in off the Channel that was entirely in keeping with the mood of a great many voters as they headed to the polls in France’s most momentous ballot in living memory.

“It’s all going to shit,” said Xavier Hembert, voting with his son Arthur on the rue Philippine de Hainaut, named after Edward III of England’s French-born wife, much loved here ever since she persuaded him not to decapitate the port’s Burghers in 1347.

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French PM says efforts to prevent far-right majority can succeed

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Gabriel Attal urges on campaign to peg back rise of National Rally as candidates pull out to avoid splitting vote

France’s prime minister has said nationwide efforts to prevent Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) winning an outright majority in parliament could succeed, after more than 200 candidates pulled out of Sunday’s legislative election runoff to avoid splitting the anti-far-right vote.

“We can avoid an absolute majority for the far right,” Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday, adding that 90% of candidates from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist camp had quit three-way races if they were in third with an RN candidate ahead of them.

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A tale of two elections: how angry voters in France and UK turned on their leaders

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The countries are heading in different directions, but voters on both sides of the Channel have similar concerns

It was raining in Calais on election day. A thin, penetrating, miserable drizzle blowing in off the Channel that was entirely in keeping with the mood of a great many voters as they headed to the polls in France’s most momentous ballot in living memory.

“It’s all going to shit,” said Xavier Hembert, voting with his son Arthur on the rue Philippine de Hainaut, named after Edward III of England’s French-born wife, much loved here ever since she persuaded him not to decapitate the port’s Burghers in 1347.

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Over 200 candidates withdraw before second round of voting – France election as it happened

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The National Rally’s Jordan Bardella is debating on social media with France’s economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, about the far right’s plan to scrap nationality rights for children born and raised in France by foreign parents.

Gabriel Attal, the prime minister and a Macron ally, said that “from the first round, we made the choice in more than sixty constituencies not to present a candidate.”

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Paris mayor says rise of far right will not dampen Olympics mood

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Anne Hidalgo says Paris ‘stands up for freedom’ amid Marine Le Pen success in first round of voting

The Paris mayor has sought to reassure visitors that the festive mood at the Olympics will not be dampened by Marine Le Pen’s electoral successes in France’s snap parliamentary elections, with less than a month to go before the city hosts the Games.

“The party will not be spoilt,” Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo told broadcaster France 2 on Tuesday. “I say to visitors from the world over – come over! Because Paris is a city that stands up for freedom and is a city of resistance against the extreme right.”

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Rishi Sunak hints he might not quit as Tory leader immediately if he loses election – as it happened

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PM says he ‘loves this party dearly’ and would always put himself at the service of it’

Rishi Sunak is speaking at a campaign event in Staffordshire. As the advance briefing predicted, he has just told his audience.

I tell you this: once you have handed Keir Starmer and Labour a blank cheque, you won’t be able to get it back.

We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.

There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.

[In politics] some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision maker. I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it …

Actually, it helps me, it takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me, and I think, actually, not only is it what I want to do as a dad, it is better.

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Starmer says far-right win in France would not stop Labour trying to forge better EU deal

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Labour leader hopes to gain closer economic ties with EU if he becomes PM and says he would work with ‘whoever’

Keir Starmer has said that a government in France led by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party would not hamper a Labour government’s intention to negotiate a better EU deal.

The RN made historic gains in the first round of France’s snap elections on Sunday with 33% of the vote, bringing the possibility the party could emerge as the largest in the final round of voting next Sunday.

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Head of French Greens accuses far-right’s Bardella of only wanting to debate men

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Marine Tondelier urges National Rally leader to take part in TV debate before second-round parliamentary election

Marine Tondelier, the head of the French Green party, has called on the far-right National Rally (RN) leader, Jordan Bardella, to take part in a TV debate with her before Sunday’s second-round parliamentary election, accusing him of only wanting to debate with men.

Tondelier, known for her trademark green jacket, has emerged as one of the main figures of the New Popular Front left alliance, which is positioning itself as a clear alternative to the far-right National Rally (RN) in many constituencies in the final runoff.

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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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French election: thousands protest far-right results in Paris – as it happened

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The far-right National Rally’s Marine Le Pen will soon address supporters after first estimates put her party in the lead.

With polls now closed, first estimates have been published.

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Soaring government debt could roil global financial markets, warns BIS head

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Agustín Carstens says world economy on course for ‘smooth landing’ after inflation but political turmoil poses risk

Rising government debt levels could disturb global financial markets, the head of the body that advises central banks said on Sunday before France’s high-stakes parliamentary elections.

Agustín Carstens, the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), said the world economy was on course for a “smooth landing” from the inflation crisis, but he warned that policymakers, especially politicians, needed to be careful.

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Five dead after storms lash France, Switzerland and Italy

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Three people died when tree crushed car they were travelling in, while torrential rains triggered landslides

Ferocious storms and torrential rains that lashed France, Switzerland and Italy this weekend have left five people dead, local authorities said.

Three people in their 70s and 80s died in France’s north-eastern Aube region on Saturday when a tree crushed the car in which they were travelling during fierce winds, the local authority told Agence France-Presse.

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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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