After the recent election in France, the mainstream media is jubilant at the defeat of the far-right coalition. Polls up until election day predicted a likely win for the right-wing National Rally and its allies. This was not the case. While the National Rally won the most vote share, due to strategic voting and election runoffs, the right-wing coalition won third place in the National Assembly. Macron’s centrist coalition, Ensemble, won second place, with the leftist New Popular Front wining first place. Divisions in the assembly may be too wide to allow the leftist parties to push forward their most radical policies, but it is certainly a win for leftists who are hoping to overturn Macron’s feeble attempts at economic austerity.
What of the National Rally? We are told everywhere that this group was patently “far-right” or even “fascist.” Examining the platforms of the right- and left-wing groups is important here, then we can determine which group is actually more authoritarian. The National Rally is not right-wing in most economic senses of the word. Its ideology is certainly nationalist, but its economic policies do not give any respect to the free-market and instead is concerned with economic protectionism and assistance to disenfranchised citizens. This blend of right-wing social policies and left-wing economic policies mirror the popular politician, Georges Ernest Boulanger. He was an enthusiastic politician who held positions in the Third French Republic. He was usually supported by members of the working class, traditionalists, and those in rural areas. In more recent years, the National Rally has abandoned or watered down many of these policy views and has garnered more support amongst pragmatic voters.
Examining the policy preferences of its spokesperson, Marine Le Pen, makes the party seem more center-right rather than far-right. The party no longer supports the death penalty or the criminalization of prostitution, both of which would be more liberal than the average Republican politician in the United States. On immigration, the party has been more traditionally right wing, but not so far as to be on the fringe of “fascist.” Traditional calls to remove illegal immigrants are common amongst party leadership, as well as a proposed end to family reunification rights for immigrants with residency permits. The party was at one point far more extreme on its immigration rhetoric, but has softened considerably, matching the tone of the typical “America-First” Republican.
When compared to Macron’s recent immigration and birthright citizenship changes, these positions are not very extreme. Concerns around immigration are certainly not explicitly fascist but come from an attempt to conserve a perceived fading French culture and address economic concerns. Neither of these issues will not be solved solely by greatly limiting immigration. First of all, it is not just traditional, European French who support the National Rally and its policies. The mostly non-white constituency of Mayotte, an island close to Madagascar, voted in a National Rally candidate. This challenges the idea that only Euro-fascists are voting for the right-wing coalition. Additionally, the economy is not weighed down due to immigration, it is weighed down due to its extremely high levels of public assistance and social spending. France traditionally spends around 30% of its GDP on public assistance/social programs. This, combined with its current 5.5% budget deficit is unsustainable. The solution here would be to greatly cut back on social programs, while allowing immigrants to bolster the economy as they typically do.
On issues of personal freedom and religious identity, Le Pen does take a traditionalist stance, but not much more so than Macron. In 2023 Macron signed off on a law to ban the wearing of abayas, a traditional full-length robe worn by some Muslim girls, in schools. Wearing headscarves is also already banned in state-run schools. When it comes to climate policies, Le Pen does not plan to leave the Paris Climate Agreement, similar to Macron. On economics, National Rally supports high levels of economic protectionism, market interventionism, and tax cuts. The party has regularly refused to recognize clear economic tendencies, and instead proposes to follow in the protectionist footsteps of President Macron.
What may be the only bright spot in the party’s platform is its Nato skepticism and potential turn to non-interventionism. France has traditionally had a relatively large presence overseas but recently began to transition out of its former colonies in Africa. The National Rally has shown some skepticism over certain Nato policies, and over how the war against Russia is being conducted. France has been pushing closer and closer to a full entrance into the conflict, with a decision to send military trainers and specialists into Ukraine already approved. Rather than continuing down a path which could lead to a larger war, the right-wing coalition seems more likely to support policies of realism and skepticism.
The economic policies of the French right seem to be more of the same, with a flare for anti-immigrant rhetoric. The New Popular Front’s proposals are pure MMT fantasy and would be ruinous for the economy. The proposals are set to implemented through economic emergency measures, including a large minimum wage hike, additional price freezes, further investments in government/subsidized ousting, and the informing of budget deficit rules. After this first phase, more substantial changes would be attempted which would overhaul the current governing system and lead to a Sixth Republic. This new government would ban billionaires, make housing a right, and re-industrialize the country around environmentalist central planning. The language proposed is nothing short of an ostensibly non-violent second French Revolution.
Never mind the economic realities which show that price fixing is harmful, the minimum wage in general is an impediment to workers, and that housing logically and practically cannot be a “right”; a government which is so intent on erasing natural inequalities is likely to do so through force and violence, while also disrupting the second largest economy in Europe. This reactionary platform is far more radical and extreme than the proposals put forward by the National Rally and should have been painted as such.
When analyzing why Macron’s centrist group would align itself with such an extremist coalition, one should look at the left’s foreign policy platform. Rather than aligning with traditional anti-war sentiments of the left, the New Popular Front has promised to go all in on defending Ukraine during the current conflict, while the National Rally was more skeptical. Putting French troops in Ukraine, in a position to directly fight Russia will undoubtedly put Putin in a tough place, where he will have no choice but to escalate. This absolute willingness of the left coalition to trust whatever the Western media says on the Ukraine-Russia issue shows a lack of commitment to revolutionary concepts surrounding state and institutional skepticism.
After researching the economic, immigration, and foreign policy platforms of these coalitions, it is clear that the New Popular Front is far more extreme, and ready to break from the neoliberal norms of Macron’s France. The large exception being on the Ukraine issue, which is likely why the media decided to portray the right-wing National Rally as a uniquely evil, fascist coalition. One can only hope that the new French government will be ineffective at governing under its extremely divided National Assembly.
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