European elections: French far-right surpasses 30% in the polls

A European election debate between the heads of seven electoral lists in France, at loggerheads on the environment for immigration and Putin’s war in Ukraine. And among them is the far right Jordan Bardella and the leader of President Macron. Centrist group Renaissance, Valerie Hayer. They clashed on the issue of Ukraine. When we talk about European diplomacy or the sharing of nuclear deterrence with our European partners, Emmanuel Macron is taking a federalist leap forward to transfer essential levers of French sovereignty to Brussels and perhaps give the power to send troops to fight in Ukraine. Our position is very clear to support Ukraine and avoid escalation with Russia. You have support from Russia, which is shameful, so you’ve changed some of your positions. But when we look at your votes, you’ve never supported Ukraine. The political fault lines are stark. Between the two main electoral lists, a recent poll shows the far right national rally is getting 32% support, compared to 17% for the centrist renaissance. The decisions French voters make will have an impact Europe. Why? Because France has 81 seats in the European Parliament, second only to Germany. The part in black in this pie chart represents the far right identity and democracy group. This projection by the European Council of Foreign Affairs indicates it could get 98 seats, 30 of them from France. Could France’s national rally leader Marine Le Pen emerged a key figure in a far right surge in EU voting? One analyst says once it comes to politicking at a European level, that may not be the case. I don’t see this united right. I think there will be very strong divisions not only over the question of EU, Russia relations, but lots of other stuff. Austerity, you know, the question of debt and so on. So there there are very strong issues. That divide the extreme right. This first television debate in France indicates a major campaign ahead, with much at stake and with plenty of unknowns. Come on.