Far right surge in EU elections

[MAD87]

Not sure that the RN will ever get into power as the other parties will group together so they dont.
If the RN has obtained so many votes it is because the ruling elites of Europe do not listen to their voters, do not care what they think and pursue their own agendas regardless.

I think there's every chance that the RN will form a government. The reasons are partly due to what you say but, imo, mostly due to better communication with "the people".
"Bigger pensions" ressounds with the elderly, often comfortably-off, "poor farmers" resounds with everyone, most not asking why the farmers became "poor".
The cost of righting all these "wrongs" is conservatively estimated at an extra 100 Bn yo-yos. Where's that going to come from? Moscow?

[niemeyjt]

I think there's every chance that the RN will form a government. The reasons are partly due to what you say but, imo, mostly due to better communication with "the people".
"Bigger pensions" ressounds with the elderly, often comfortably-off, "poor farmers" resounds with everyone, most not asking why the farmers became "poor".
The cost of righting all these "wrongs" is conservatively estimated at an extra 100 Bn yo-yos. Where's that going to come from? Moscow?

Not to mention other populist, but expensive, policies like lowering retirement age back to 60.

Maybe France is about to have its own "Liz Truss" moment - and I think it may last longer than a lettuce.

[tagh]

I wonder whether the French civil service would resist a LePen government’s policies as the UK one resisted the Tories’

[MAD87]

I wonder whether the French civil service would resist a LePen government’s policies as the UK one resisted the Tories’

Imo, a lot of foncs would vote RN.
I see the LR (Ciotti) is calling for an alliance with the RN. Dog help us.

[MAD87]

Ciotti has been disowned by his conservative comrades...
Marion Maréchal has been disowned by her equally odious comrade Zemmour...
Bring it on!

[Niftyons]

LR (Ciotti)

Is that where Python script writers got the name Luigi Vercotti from I wonder ?

Not to forget Eric the half B.

[glazedallover]

makes sombre reading (if it copies)

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/23/opin ... =url-share

[tagh]

Thank you gao, that article was most interesting; what it highlights is the (deliberate?) distance between unelected Brussels bureaucracy and the nation states and the arrogant intelligentsia which runs roughshod over the vast majority of folk.
As I have said before, the rise of the extreme right parties is a result of this as is Brexit.

[Niftyons]

CC writes for Fox News.
If you are looking for balanced reporting I would suggest it is more realistic to look elsewhere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph ... ournalist)

[Blaze]

An article today from he BBC website "Macron's election gamble puts French democracy on the table".
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cekk9n1je9yo

Two neighbouring countries are approaching elections that were called out of the blue.
Both have governments that are expected to fall.
In both countries political tensions have divided families and friends.
Stop. At this point, all attempts to draw parallels between the British and French elections must cease.
Because however much might be at issue in the UK election - and there is much - it pales next to the stakes that have been raised across the channel.
Here in France, it is not just the fate of a government or a leader that is in the air – but of a political system.
And the risks are not of disappointed hopes and crushed careers, as in a peacefully functioning democracy, but of actual violence.

French friends last night were saying exactly the same thing : The British have a more accepting attitude towards election results because after all, isn't that supposed to be what democracy is all about ? The will of the people ?
But in France, since the Revolution, it seems that if the minority don't like what the majority have voted for, they take to the streets. Everyone - even school children - insists on their right to express themselves by demonstrating and the subsequent disruption often turns to vandalism and violence.

As for the Olympics, if things continue as they are, countries are likely to withdraw for security reasons. That could screw France's bid for the Winter Olympics (wouldn't that be a shame .... )