France: Macron dissolves National Assembly and announces new elections

After the defeat of his center camp in the European elections, French President Emmanuel Macron wants to dissolve the French National Assembly. Macron announced on Sunday evening in Paris that new elections would be held in a few weeks. He had decided to once again “let the French decide on our parliamentary future through the election,” Macron said. The parliamentary elections would take place on June 30 and July 7, he announced.

“So at the end of this day, I cannot pretend that nothing has happened,” said Macron. At the same time, he warned that the rise of nationalists was a danger for France and Europe. “I have heard your message and your concerns and I will not leave them unanswered,” he said to voters. Le Pen welcomed Macron’s announcement. They are ready to take power in France if RN wins the trust of the voters.

Macron: Cannot pretend nothing happened

“This decision is serious and difficult, but it is above all an act of trust,” Macron stressed. According to projections, the right-wing nationalist party Rassemblement National, led by Marine Le Pen, clearly won the European elections in France. The eurosceptic party received 31.5 to 32.3 percent of the vote, while Macron’s pro-European camp received only 15.2 to 15.4 percent. According to projections, the Socialists came in third place with 14 to 14.2 percent, just behind Macron’s center bloc. The far-right party Reconquête received 5.3 to 5.5 percent.

France’s center camp was already weakened. It has not had an absolute majority in the National Assembly for almost two years. Governing has been difficult since then. For Macron, the failure in the European elections is a bitter defeat. France is also looking ahead to the 2027 presidential election.

Macron, who twice won the runoff election against the right-wing figurehead Le Pen, will not be able to run again after two terms in office. It is still unclear who the centrist forces will put forward and who would have a chance against Le Pen. The daughter of the right-wing extremist party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has successfully managed to present a much more moderate image in recent years and make her RN electable well into the bourgeois right.

stern correspondent: “So far, the RN has lived off of creating a mood”

The star-France correspondent Andrea Ritter classifies the election results and the early elections in our neighbors as follows:

“It is clear that the RN’s election campaign strategy has worked. From the beginning, Jordan Bardella and his team declared the European elections to be a national matter: the vote would be on Emmanuel Macron’s policies, and the vote would be a referendum on the president. Statements on Europe remained vague, and the focus of the campaign was opposition to the government. And it seems to be continuing like this: immediately after the results were announced, Jordan Bardella called for new elections for the French parliament.

Then, shortly after 9 p.m., there was a bombshell: Emmanuel Macron appeared in front of the cameras at the Élysée Palace and announced that he would do just that. Parliament would be dissolved, and new elections to the Assemblée Nationale are expected to take place at the end of June.

France’s president is reacting to his party’s poor performance. Above all, however, he is reacting to the success of the RN. The rise of the nationalists is a danger for France and for Europe, said Macron, but he has faith in democracy. So far, the RN has lived off of propaganda. For the French, it will now be a matter of deciding how much political responsibility they really want to grant the right-wing populists.”

Note: This article has been updated.