By raising for the first time the idea of sending troops to Ukraine, the French leader “has taken a further step toward belligerence,” blasted his rival Marine Le Pen, of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party. She accused him of “posing an existential risk to 70 million French people, and more particularly to our armed forces already deployed in Eastern Europe.”
"You’ve been waiting for the first opportunity to remind people of your true loyalties [and] “show your true colors,” retorted Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who had left the Paris Agricultural Show to attend the verbal joust. “When you read the investigations that are being carried out, [such as one published by the Washington Post on December 30, showing the RN’s persistent links with Moscow], you have to wonder whether Vladimir Putin’s troops aren’t already in our country,” he continued. “I’m talking about you and your troops, Ms. Le Pen.”
French person here. Le Pen wouldn’t be where she is without Macron. He used her as a foil to win two elections, and his party has been hard at work normalising cooperation with the far right in parliament to oppose any left wing bill. He is playing with fire, and one pertinent comment from his PM should not make us forget that.
As a German I am always surprised how little I know about french politics (I mean I know le pen and macron are and i vaguely remember that he had to form a weird coalition?). Even British politics are discussed more than French politics even though they do influence us way more. Would you say it’s the same for you?
It’s the same for us in France. We barely get any news from Germany, apart from who is the current chancellor and the big headlines. I now live in Germany and it feels very strange to have so few knowledge of the politics of where I live (my german is way too weak for now to properly understand it)
It’s similar in the US with Mexico. They’re nextdoor neighbors and we barely hear anything that happens in their country outside of Drug Cartel violence, but we do get a bit more regular information on Canadian politics, so I’m guessing it’s the language barrier.
We have very little discussion about German politics here. A little bit about afd lately and whenever the EU comes up but not as much as US or UK politics. The cultural hegemony is no joke…
Macron is a neoliberal after all. He has no substantive and popular policies to fully temper populism other than “I’m not Le Pen”. Le Pen is inching closer and closer to becoming president with every election if Macron keeps coddling with the establishment. She got more votes in 2022 than in 2017 and democratic loving people should not become complacent of Le Pen not winning the presidential elections and calling it the final victory. She is biding her time and this is what happened in Netherlands with Geert Wilders’ party having won most seats despite losing in 2017.