France’s Far Right at the Gates of Power

from The New York Times I'm Katherine. benold this is the. [Music]. daily the far ride in France had a big. win this month it crushed the party of. President Emanuel macron in elections. for the European Parliament but it was a. largely symbolic win because the. elections did not affect France's. government at home until macron changed. that today my colleague Roger Cohen on.

the huge political gamble macron has. taken and how the far right is now. closer than ever to gaining real power. in. [Music]. France it's Wednesday June. [Music]. 26th Roger the far right has been a. player in French politics for a very. long time I used to be based in France. my myself and remember writing about it.

like 15 years ago and of course you've. been on the show more recently to talk. about it but now the far right has its. best shot yet at actually governing walk. us through what just happened well. Katherine the national rally formerly. known as the national front the far. right anti-immigration party in France. headed by Marine lean has been rising. for some time due to Growing frustration. with the government growing.

anti-immigrant feeling in France and the. feeling of marginalization among many. people but until very recently nobody. thought the national rally could. actually govern. France the world's largest multicountry. election is underway for the next. European Parliament today Spain France. now suddenly what has happened is that. early this month European Parliament. elections were held millions of people. people in 27 nations are deciding what.

the next 5 years will look like for the. European Union these are elections to. the directly elected body of the. European. Union I'm currently at uh the national. rallies electoral party in eastern Paris. where they're just crushing. it and there was a huge breakthrough for. the party but looking like a surge for.

the far right in France and that is one. country the national rally got more than. 30% of the vote which is more than twice. the total of President Emanuel macon's. party it came in easily first among. French parties and this produced General. disarray in the. country today you were called upon to. vote in the European elections in. Mainland France and induced in president.

m a shock decision I have decided to. give you again the choice of our. parliamentary future through the vote. and that was to dissolve parliament or. National Assembly as it's called here. something he had absolutely no. obligation to do Under the Constitution. I will be signing the decree that will. call the French people on the 30th of. June to legislative elections in the 7th. and call new legislative elections which.

will be held in two parts the first this. coming weekend and then the next a week. later and he can just do that yeah he. can do that the president has enormous. powers and among those uh is the power. to dissolve parliament and call. elections the time is now long live the. republic Long Live. [Music]. France so let me just try to understand. this there were these European elections. which per se have absolutely no impact.

on how France itself is governed in. theory they did not affect the balance. of power inside of France you know. macron remains president he doesn't have. elections for another several years and. yet at the very moment where the farite. is kind of looking stronger than ever he. decides to call an election it seems a. little nuts yeah on the face of it it is. pretty nuts the national rally has the. wind in its sales and it's a lot to. expect that the French people 3 weeks. after one election ction are going to.

vote entirely differently in this next. one and it's a strong possibility as a. result that the national rally will be. the largest party in the parliament they. may not have an absolute majority of the. 577 seats if they do however president. maon would almost certainly be obliged. to name a prime minister from the farri. party that would be a transform.

moment in postwar French history right. he'd basically be handing control of his. own government to his political enemy. yes he didn't even consult his own prime. minister he had named this prime. minister in January Gabriel atel he was. maon vunderkind his his great favorite. he did not consult him on the decision. which he took in a small Cuttery of four. or five advisers and this is this is. provoked outrage within the government.

and perhaps it's most uh crystallized in. a photograph that emerged from the Eliz. of the moment when the president was. announcing that he was dissolving. Parliament and you see atel the prime. minister in front of him looking. absolutely dumbfounded and not only atel. but other members of the government so. Roger I guess the obvious question is. why did macron do this.

well you know cine the European. Parliament elections are historically. elections where people feel they can. blow a steam because they have no direct. consequences on National politics so I. assume that m is thinking well uh you. blew off steam now okay let's get. serious um and he he thinks that when. French people do they may on mass vote. differently there's a more uh cynical uh.

interpretation of it that has been doing. the rounds which uh is that and this too. is risky which is that okay if the. national rally has risen so much it's. now inevitable that it's going to come. to power at some point why not hand it. power while I'm still president and can. control uh the national Rally's exercise. of that power for example the president. continues to control defense and Foreign.

Affairs questions so the BET then would. be that the national rally would be uh. in power for the next three years till. the next presidential election in 2027. and by then uh the sheen uh would be off. them the sheen would be off the national. rally they would have failed and you. know governing is much more difficult. than railing from outside so some people. are looking at this and think.

oh this is a strategy by macron. basically give away some power now and. hope that people fall out of love with. the far right before the next. presidential election yes that's right. Katherine but ultimately maybe it's just. as he said at this press conference the. other day he wants to put it to the. people the word he used about 40 times. was clarification there has to be a. clarification of where people stand are. you really going to hand power to the. far right so he's calling the bluff of.

Voters or he thinks he is you make it. sound almost like he's calling basically. a referendum on himself and what's more. it sounds like he thinks he's going to. win this referendum I wonder what what. makes him so confident well Katherine. maon is a confident guy um confident. sometimes for many people bordering uh. on arrogance you know that he's had a. problem throughout his seven-year. presidency with people who say that he. looks down on them that he's a Jupiter.

like figure that he's Superior look he's. never lost before this was a big defeat. and there's a certain hubris about him. at this point almost uh an intellectual. narcissism it seems sometimes where. against all the evidence he just. believes somehow he will pull out a. positive result in the election the. thing is though that mall did something.

extraordinary you know he burst on the. scene in 2017 and uh at a time when. Nationalist and illiberal and. anti-immigrant politicians like Donald. Trump himself were Rising he said no I'm. going to stand for Europe and I'm going. to stand for Liberal democracies and. well seven years have gone by since then. and um his star has faded he's term. limited he will be gone in 3 years. people beginning to Desert him none of.

the politicians from his own party or. virtually none of them who are running. now they don't want an image of maon on. their posters they don't want to be seen. with maon he's seen as. negative so he was the Kennedy of France. of Europe seven years ago but things are. different. now and the country is different France. is different it's moved rightward.

and not only has the country changed but. this time his opponent is. [Music]. different we'll be right. [Music]. back so Roger you mentioned that when. macron first came to power he beat the.

far right which of course he did again. just two years ago but since then the. country has changed how has it changed. well there's been a drift to the right. as France has faced many problems of. course there was covid and then that. went straight into the war in Ukraine. and that sent prices soaring high. inflation a lot of people in France uh. struggling to get to the end of the. month and a feeling that you've seen in. many Western democracies that in what.

France calls La periphery or the. periphery I.E outside the big wired. capitals of the knowledge economy. there's a whole group of people who feel. largely forgotten who feel alienated. from the cultural values of the Cities. who feel almost invisible at times and. that has generated a a huge amount of. frustration and so people have been.

wanting to look outside the traditional. parties and toward a party that for them. expresses that anger and that has been. overwhelmingly uh the national rally and. it has benefited from those. emotions right and you said not only the. situation on the ground in France had. changed you said also that the far right. had changed yes Marine lean in the 15. years or so that she's been leading the.

party has rebranded it not only. rebranded it by changing its name from. the national front to the National rally. but she got rid of several basic tenants. of the party under her father who. founded the party in 1972 that is Jean. Marie Leen who was an out andout racist. was an out andout anti-semite it was a. racist anti-semitic anti-immigrant party. that came out out of the World War II.

quasi fascist R under Marine lepan she. not only expunge completely the. anti-Semitism to the point that some. people now regard it as the most. pro-israel pro-jewish party in France. but it also got rid of for example it. used to say it would exit the European. Union it got rid of that it said it. would exit the euro currency it got rid. of that it toned down its language.

Marine lean was always smiling uh every. effort has been made to say you don't. need to be afraid of us we just like any. other party we've been through a. makeover and certainly one of the most. powerful demonstrations of the ways in. which the national rally has change has. been the decision to entrust its future. to a very young man who has taken French. politics by storm.

young voters in France are expressing. enthusiasm for a rising star of French. politics leader of the party Jord B the. 28-year-old Jordan. bardella he's a good-looking impeccably. dressed guy who has a very even. [Music]. tone has been intensely coached on how.

to present himself to the. media and he's done so extremely. [Music]. successfully he has a very big Tik Tok. presence he eats candy on Tik Tok even. that's become a big deal people say you. know I'm eating candy like Jordan bandel. I think he has a lot of ideas for young. people he's speaking out for young. people on our future and one of the.

Striking phenomena of French politics in. the last year or so has been pretty. strong shift among the young demographic. from about 18 to 28 toward the national. rally it's become a very popular party. among young people in France and of. course badela being 28 years old he. draws that. vote Marine Leen says Jordan bardel will.

be prime minister if the right-wing. group wins enough votes at the upcoming. French general. [Music]. election so this is a remarkable rise. for this young politician this political. figure who it sounds like has not just. made the national rally a kind of. palatable option to vote for her he's. actually made it really popular yeah I. think he's not only iiz people who were.

already supporters of the national rally. he has brought in part of the center. that was moving in that direction the. traditional conservative right and. bardel has succeeded in bringing that. about so what happens to macron's. government if the national rally. actually wins the most votes what do we. think that government and its policies. would actually look like well I think. that they will push hard to reinforce.

the police side with greater security as. they always put it in the country and. they would try to push through some of. their anti-immigrant program they would. reduce the Immigrant presence in France. whether by introducing borders in France. you know selective controls at certain. borders he's been pretty vague about it. but they want what they call a second. border what they don't want is somebody.

who is uh let's say a legal immigrant in. Italy crossing over to France under the. shenan arrangement whereby this person. could just come to France and so they. want to make it easier to throw. immigrants who have infringed on uh the. law or have committed a crime or even. just insulted the Republic in some way. easier to throw them out of France they. want to impose a ban on the use of the.

Muslim head scarf in public everywhere. you know in terms of governing they have. a model at this point they have Orban in. Hungary they have what kachinsky did in. Poland and they talk about it they want. to begin to chip away at the independent. power of the. Judiciary and they're talking also about. the fact that state media is too hostile. to the right and needs to be shut down.

so they're going to go at the Judiciary. they're going to go at the media they're. going to go at the counterbalancing. institutions within the French Republic. in much the same way that has already. been done in other socities that moved. in an illiberal Direction it's. interesting there's almost A playbook in. Europe now right there's a lot of these. populists who no longer want to leave. the European Union it's like they want. to change the European Union from the. inside. yes I think that's true so maybe this is.

not so much a referendum on macron as a. person maybe he has actually called a. referendum on the very idea of a liberal. democracy in France you know a democracy. that is about protecting the rights of. minorities and protecting things like an. independent press and an independent. Judiciary but also one that is very. pro-european because that's not just. macron's DNA it's also actually very. much an integral part of France's DNA.

since World War II yeah I I never. thought the national rally would come to. power in France but the Zeitgeist has. changed postwar it was all about. avoiding a repetition of the wars that. devastated Europe in the first half of. the 20th century and the European Union. grew out of that it was a peace magnet. it was a way to say we're going to. remove borders between countries we're. going to make it impossible to go to war.

we're going to fuse our Iron and Steel. Industries and that Spirit reigned right. through the end of the Cold War but one. has to just recognize I think the fact. that there is a feeling that Western. democracies including the United States. have failed a lot of people over the. last three. decades they failed them with growing. inequality they failed them by failing. to control orders they failed in many.

ways and this has given rise to the. nation resurgent the nation resurgent. that is the epoch we are living in right. now it's just possible that this anger. that is present has to come out and that. France is going to find itself part of. [Music]. that Roger thank you very much thank you. catch. [Music].

train we'll be right. back here's what else you need to know. today on Tuesday the Kenyan government. deployed the military after protesters. who were Furious over a package of tax. increases stormed the Parliament. building in the capital Nairobi the. protesters climbed in Windows and set.

fire to the entrance of the building the. police responded by firing tear gas and. guns at least five people were reported. dead from gunshot wounds and more than. 30 others appear to be wounded the. turmoil has shaken Kenya which has long. been an anchor of stability in East. Africa and in a closely watched. Democratic primary Congressman Jamal. Bowman of New York Was Defeated on. Tuesday night Bowman the the subject of. yesterday's episode was the target of a.

multi-million dollar campaign by groups. supporting Israel they wanted to punish. him for harshly criticizing Israel's. response to October. 7th Bowman is an outspoken Progressive. and lost to George ladimer a more. moderate Democrat their race became the. most expensive house Primary in. history today's episode was produced by. CLA tennis ketter will Reed and Eric. krupky it was edited by Devon Taylor.

contains original music by Maran Lozano. and Pat mccusker and was engineered by. Chris Wood our theme music is by Jim. brenberg and Ben lansberg of. [Music]. [Music]. wandy that's it for the daily I'm. Katherine benold see you tomorrow.

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