Macron’s Dangerous Bid to Unmask Le Pen
The French far-right thrives in ambiguity. Snap elections are a high-risk attempt to remedy that.
Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella after Sunday’s win in European elections.
Photographer: DANIEL DORKO/AFPFrench President Emmanuel Macron, humbled by the drubbing administered by far-right nemesis Marine Le Pen in European elections, is rolling the dice on his government, his credibility and his legacy. By calling snap parliamentary elections, he’s counting on the French “waking up” to what Le Pen actually stands for as tensions with Vladimir Putin’s Russia rise. But the risk is that this backfires and leads to more gridlock that neither benefits Europe nor restores Macron’s appeal.
Macron clearly feels there’s no other response to elections that seem to confirm the lame-duck status of his pro-Europe, pro-reform movement in the twilight years of his second and final term. Le Pen’s roster of candidates got 31.5% of the vote, more than double Macron’s and a score not seen in 40 years. Doing nothing would mean accepting a less central role on the European Union stage – in its parliament, at least – on top of a gridlocked national legislature where he’s lacked a majority since 2022. And the inevitable countdown to a President Le Pen in 2027.