A Small News for a Big Crisis in France
Emmanuel Macron announced sudden parliamentary elections in France with the aim of breaking the wave of far-right extremists in his country following Marine Le Pen’s victories in the European elections. This big risk led to an initial victory for Le Pen’s party in the first round of parliamentary elections and heightened concerns about the future of French politics.
However, he astonishingly joined forces with the leftists, and leftist parties, which had unprecedentedly set aside long-standing divisions and united, collaborated with Macron’s centrist party to push back the far-right extremists.
Macron’s big gamble ultimately paid off, surprising all analysts, and considering the election results, the country was plunged into a creeping crisis due to the formation of a parliament lacking a party with a decisive majority.
Hosting the Olympic Games was an opportunity for France and Macron himself to take a breather with the joys and celebrations of sports and culture, and now it’s time to appoint a prime minister and form a government that can endure in the current unstable parliament.
Macron’s serious negotiations with political groups and figures to form a government continue, and the news of these negotiations is intensely hot. However, news arrived that overshadowed these reports: Édouard Philippe, the Prime Minister of France from 2017 to 2020, was an ally and sympathizer of Macron, but over time, their relationship cooled relatively, and their differences became serious with Philippe’s severe criticism of Macron for the sudden announcement of parliamentary elections.
Nevertheless, no one expected him to take a serious step to increase the country’s political instability and Macron’s position. Philippe has now announced that he will run for the upcoming French presidential election as the leader of the centrist party.
Naturally, the first step is to reach the leadership of the centrists, but this very announcement of candidacy has severely weakened Macron’s position.
This official announcement by Philippe has caught Macron by surprise because the day before this announcement, the two met and talked, and Philippe did not inform Macron about his candidacy announcement. The key point in the story of Philippe’s candidacy, which has affected European politics, is the fresh news from behind the scenes of his plan.
Figures close to Édouard Philippe have told reporters that he not only has plans for the election scheduled based on the French presidential term for 2027 but also believes that Macron will not last until then, and 2025 will be the year Macron steps down and early French presidential elections are held.