French populist parties are on pace to see record support in the European Parliament elections and deal a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron’s standing at home and abroad.
According to a survey from the consultancy firm Portland Communications seen by the POLITICO website, the National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen is on pace for its best-ever result in the EU Parliament elections in June.
The survey, which polled 1,034 people in late January, projected that the National Rally would secure 33 per cent of the vote, far outpacing the neo-liberal Ensemble! coalition that includes Macron’s Renaissance party, which is on pace to pick up just 14 per cent of the vote.
Meanwhile, the Reconquest party of populist polemicist Eric Zemmour is on pace to secure six per cent of the vote, meaning that collectively, the populist right would gain 40 per cent of the vote. This would likely be a major blow for President Macron both at home where he already has at best a tenuous grip on the National Assembly and internationally, where he has tried to cast himself as the heir to Angela Merkel as the top leader in Europe.
Commenting this week on the elections, National Rally President Jordan Bardella described the vote as the “mid-term elections” for President Emmanuel Macron, who is a little less than halfway through his second and final term in office.
“We must put Macron’s Europe in the minority because what Brussels decides, the French suffer: energy prices, the end of our agriculture, the Migration Pact, it’s Brussels!” Bardella said.
French Populist Marine Le Pen Leads Field in Race to Replace President Macron https://t.co/ZJdTa2vXf8
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 9, 2024
A similar sentiment was expressed last week by rising right-wing star, and niece of Marine Le Pen, Marion Maréchal who announced that her Reconquest party would join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) EU Parliamentary coalition, which includes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and the conservative Polish Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Maréchal, who serves as the vice-chairwoman of the anti-mass migration Reconquest party, said the move to join the ECR was intended to help “outstrip the Renew group of Emmanuel Macron, and thus to reduce the centrist influence in the European Parliament.”
“We share a common vision of Europe on the essentials: fight against immigration and Islamisation, opposition to Brussels centralism, respect for nations and their identity, and defence of conservative values,” share added.
The Portland Communications survey found that the top issues among French voters heading into the elections is the cost-of-living crisis created in large part by coronavirus lockdown measures and the war in Ukraine, both of which contributed to inflation and supply chain issues.
The cost-of-living crisis was closely followed by immigration, with the country once again being wracked by Islamic terrorism and devastating BLM-style race riots after the police killing of an Algerian-heritage teen.
The survey was also conducted amidst the tractor protests held across France by farmers angry over heavy environmental regulations at both the national and EU levels. While both Paris and Brussels have offered minor concessions to the farmers, tractor blockades will likely continue to dominate the headlines in the lead-up to the vote as farmers seem to have no intention of backing down from their fight against the green agenda.
‘Sharp Turn to the Right’ — Populist Parties Projected to Win EU Parliament Elections in Nine Nations https://t.co/55dYsysrZw
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 27, 2024
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