Emmanuel Macron may have been re-elected on Sunday, but the Eurosceptic nationalist forces have given Europe quite a fright – and above all they continue to knock on the door of the Élysée. A far-right populist candidate has just scored an unprecedented score. And there is no reason to think that these numbers will not be higher next time.
Before the European Union breathes a sigh of relief and returns to its business, it must take the time to reflect: how can France, a founding country of the EU and one of its pillars, stop playing the future of Europe at Russian roulette every five years?
Now that the two parties have collapsed (the heirs to Gaullism in the center right and the socialists in the center left) which had dominated political life since 1958 and the beginning of the Ve As a Republic, France finds itself de facto with, on the one hand, an ill-defined pro-European centrist bloc and, on the other, diffuse but explosive forces devoted to protectionism and nationalism, opposed to globalization, the EU and to immigration.
French democracy emptied of its substance
In a democracy, political life fluctuates quite naturally between two major political sides. French democracy today finds itself emptied of its substance. The fault lies in particular with the excessive powers entrusted to the elected president, which reduce Parliament to a recording chamber when the presidential party has the majority in the National Assembly.
The transition to a five-year term, decided by Jacques Chirac in 2001 to synchronize electoral cycles and ensure that deputies are appointed during the new president’s state of grace, has further increased presidential control, fueling at the same time the disinterest of voters.
“Voting, what’s the point?” more and more French people are wondering, starting with young people, who prefer political action in associations or collectives to the voting booth, or even, for the most radical, violence.
As analyzed in an interview by far-right specialist Jean-Yves Camus, this change in the electoral rhythm has played a decisive role in the decomposition of the political landscape.
The reasons for extra-parliamentary opposition
As the National Assembly is made up of elected officials appointed by constituency in a majority two-round ballot, whole sections of the French population are there, as polls show, very under-represented. To skip the premiere