Essay by Eric Worrall
President Macron called snap parliamentary elections after crushing far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in recent European elections.
France’s snap election: what happened, why, and what’s next?
In a shock move, president Emmanuel Macron called the parliamentary election, describing it as an ‘act of confidence’
Jon Henley European correspondent Mon 10 Jun 2024 08.01 AEST
In a shock move, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, called parliamentary elections to be held in the next 30 days. What happened exactly, why – and what will happen next?
What is the story?
After suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) in the European parliamentary elections, the French president on Sunday unexpectedly announced a snap general election.
According to usually accurate forecasts, Macron’s centrist list, led by MEP Valérie Hayer, scored between 14.8% and 15.2% in European polls, less than half of the 32%-33% tally booked by the RN, whose candidate The leader is the president of the party, Jordan Bardella, 28.
The president won re-election in 2022. His current term runs until the spring of 2027 and he cannot stand for re-election.
What are Macron’s reasons?
The president said the decision was “serious and heavy”, but he could not back down because “right-wing parties … are advancing everywhere on the continent”.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/09/frances-snap-election-what-happened-why-and-whats-next
Remember, when “Guardian” says “Right,” that means anyone to the right of President Biden. Le Pen is not President Trump. But he has promised to withdraw wind and solar subsidies and focus only on nuclear power, and he has also shown that he wants to protect French manufacturers – he is considering driving manufacturing offshore with tough climate rules but still using manufactured products, importing products instead manufacturing in France, as “climate hypocrites”.
The following is from April 2022.
Climate was discussed for 20 minutes in the 3-hour Macron-Le Pen debate
By Nelly Moussu Euractiv France | translated by Daniel Eck 21 Apr 2022
During the three-hour debate between French presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, climate was discussed for only 20 minutes, despite being one of the most anticipated topics. EURACTIV France reports.
Climate is one of ten topics on the debate agenda on Wednesday (April 20), ahead of the final round of voting on Sunday.
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Le Pen wants a calm transition
For Le Pen, French purchasing power is central to the discourse on the environment. The far-right leader has promised to lower VAT on fuel, gas and heating oil as he exits the “European electricity market” to restore France’s purchasing power.
When choosing an ecological transition, Le Pen wants “to go slower than what was done in France, to overcome it.”
According to him, the current government is asking too much of the French people, and he blames Macron for “punitive ecology”.
Le Pen also believes that “wind power is an ecological and economic absurdity”. He promised a referendum on the dismantling of wind turbines and said he had “a plan to develop nuclear power” at the start of his mandate.
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Read more: https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/climate-discussed-for-20-minutes-in-3-hour-long-macron-le-pen-debate/
President Trump spoke well about Marine Le Penn back in 2017, as far as I know he still feels about her – although at the time Trump’s focus was usually Le Pen’s pushback against Europe’s open borders.
If President Macron loses this snap election, he will still be President – this is a Parliamentary election, not a Presidential election. But Macron will be a lame duck President than he is now, his hands will be tied on many issues, it will be a great shame for him.
What can we conclude from all this, about the Paris Agreement? Le Pen has said that she plans to uphold France’s Paris commitments, but she has also made it clear that the Paris Agreement is not her top priority. If the greens play hardball, my crystal ball tells me Le Pen will choose economic sanity over gutting her climate commitments. So we’re looking at the exciting possibility that France is kicked out of the Paris Agreement, possibly even before Trump wins office at the end of the year.
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