France just had a major political shake-up
By: Rachel Marsden
Populists have scored big against globalists in the legislative election
If French President Emmanuel Macron thought that his re-election this past May
against right-wing populist challenger Marine Le Pen was a license to keep
forging ahead with a globalist agenda, it turns out that he was badly
miscalculated. While French voters may have been reluctant to hand executive
control over to Le Pen, they seized the opportunity to recalibrate the balance
of power away from Macron’s globalist establishment status quo with last
weekend’s parliamentary elections.
Although Macron’s centrist Together coalition retained the most seats among the
parties elected to the National Assembly on Sunday, the president lost the
absolute majority which had allowed him to freely ram through his agenda into
law. Until now, whatever Macron wanted or telegraphed – whether it was Covid jab
mandates and digital passes or censorship under the guise of ‘national security’
– his party simply converted into law. And there was nothing that opponents
could do about it other than complain hopelessly.
Until now.
Populist parties on the right and left both made historic gains, while the
traditional establishment parties were decimated. Of the 577 seats, Macron’s
Renaissance party (formerly La République En Marche!) maintained 170, losing 138
compared to the 2017 election. Gains made by other members of the Together
coalition fell far short of compensating for such a massive loss, resulting in
the coalition holding down only 245 seats in total.
The populist left coalition New Ecologic and Social People's Union, led by
Jean-Luc Mélenchon – it’s called “Nupes”, its French acronym, but really should
be called “Watermelon,” since it is populist left pinkish-red at its core with
an outer layer of green activism – nabbed 131 seats to form the primary
opposition. Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally right-wing populists made
historic gains that surpassed all expectations, surging from just eight seats to
89. The establishment right, Les Républicains, had to settle for just 61 seats,
while the traditional Socialist Party as an entity was nowhere to be found.
What emerges is a snapshot of the new ideological dichotomy that is
increasingly dominating Western political discourse. The conventional left-right
paradigm is being overshadowed by one of populism versus globalism as
establishment elites on both sides of the political divide across the Western
world preach the same gospel and sing from the same hymn book on issues of
critical importance to citizens.
Establishment politicians on the right and left are more often than not in
agreement on matters such as Covid jab mandates, state-backed censorship,
surveillance (digital or otherwise), the foreign bogeyman-du-jour, or the need
to follow whatever consensus or agenda is laid out at the Davos World Economic
Forum and backed by the murky interests of rich elites. What’s the point of
arguing about partisan ideology when the sovereignty of your country is at risk
from those within who have few qualms about selling it out to external or
supranational interests?
The French non-establishment right and left have a lot in common. They have no
interest in backing American foreign policy in constantly picking fights abroad.
They have a more pragmatic and agnostic approach to other countries that would
benefit French trade and cooperation. They understand that America’s problems
don’t have to be France’s if Paris insists on sovereign independence in its
dealings with Washington and the EU.
Populists’ lack of access to power has made them relatively unattractive
targets for seduction by special interests more interested in lining their own
pockets than those of the average citizen. And their own histories of being
marginalized by the establishment and refusing to join conventional political
parties is a testament to the kind of character needed to pursue an
unconventional agenda under tremendous establishment pressure to conform.
It’s no surprise that French elites are freaking out. After the election,
experts are referring to the country as “ungovernable” – all because the
governing elites can’t just do whatever they want anymore. Nothing is more
easily “governable” than an autocracy. In exercising their democratic right,
French voters injected much needed diversity in the most critical ideological
sense.
French citizens routinely cited purchasing power as their top concern during
these elections. Macron failed the French when he backed Washington’s perpetual
antagonizing of Russia on its border with Ukraine when a withdrawal of French
support and insistence that Ukraine abide by the French-backed Minsk Accords
could have ended the conflict. And when the conflict turned red-hot, Macron
backed anti-Russian sanctions leading to energy- and inflation-related price
hikes in France and Europe. He blew past every possible off-ramp and is only now
changing his tune about the need for peace, negotiations, and Ukrainian
concessions.
Healthcare concerns were also at the top of people’s minds. Although French
hospitals are under strain, 15,000 suspended unvaccinated health care workers
have yet to be reintegrated under Macron’s Covid rules.
Another issue is the retirement age, which Macron is set to raise from 62 to
65. But for French citizens, whose salaries are already low because their
employer has to pay nearly one euro in social security to the government for
every euro of employee salary (and that’s before another quarter of what’s left
is taken off at the employee’s end), it translates to yet another way of taxing
their work by reducing their benefits.
The populist right and left agree that French policy should be oriented to
benefit the interests of the average working French citizen first and foremost
rather than treating them as an afterthought or collateral damage in the service
of other murky interests. This new French parliament is a foot in the door for
populists on both the right and left to convince even more voters that populist
governance is not only a viable – but actually preferable – alternative to the
current establishment status quo.
COPYRIGHT 2022 RACHEL MARSDEN