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The snap elections called by Macron after National Rally party of Marine Le Pen wins 32 percent of the vote to Macron En Marche at 15% in the EU elections. Marine Le Pen has put Jordan Bardella, 28 years, of St Dennis suburb in Paris as the candidate for prime minister if NR wins the National Assembly election. Macron earlier made Gabriel Attal, 35 years, the En Marche candidate. This is the youngest in a major country for prime minister. This report in WSJ shows how Macron by reducing diesel subsidies for farmers has alienated rural voters at a time when farmers are protesting difficult conditions. Macron also faced union opposition over pension age changes, and before his reelection protests from Yellow Vest protesters on cost of living issues. Macron has survived each challenge, the last in reelection by getting support of voters on the left and right choosing stability over changes that National Rally might bring. The snap election was also intended to take Le Pen and NR by surprise. This has created new uncertainty with elections on June 30, 2024, soon after Biden and Macron met in Normandy for D- Day anniversary, and the upcoming G7 meeting in Italy June 13-15. ...

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France's former president who preceded Macron was Francois Hollande of the Socialist party. Macron was a socialist party member from Amiens and a member of Hollande's cabinet, choosing to challenge Hollande with his own newly created party EN Marche just months before the election of  2016. This party is relabeled the Renaissance or Ensemble in 2024. Francois Hollande, 69 years, was elected in 2024 Assembly elections with 43% of the vote from Correze, and speaks for the NFP Front Populaire which defeated the Macron Ensemble and the RN National Rally to be the largest party in the National Assembly. Here he talks about the snap elections, the failure of Macron for working families struggling to make a living, and the responsibility to the French Nation of the Front Populaire, the need for cost of living actions to lift the burdens on working families, and the need to stand up for working people across the country. Today the NFP is the only party that calls for investing $140 billion in the French economy, in manufacturing, in infrastructure and public services, for climate change action. ...

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French regional elections show a defeat by Conservatives of Le Pen's far right party and president Macron's party. Conservatives maintained a lead of 10% of the vote over Le Pen's party. Macron's party failed to make it to double digits in the vote with about 7%. Sixty six percent of voters stayed away from the poll. The Conservatives and the Socialist parties did well holding on to their regions. This changes the landscape for the presidential election in 2022. 

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Franvce's snap election in July 2024 is Explained in The Times showing the situation of each of the parties in France in EU elections and their platforms- Renaissance at 15%, Les Republicains allied with Macron's Renaissance at 7.25%. The Socialist Party of Mitterand and Hollande with 14%, the France Unbowed at 10%. Ecologiste at 6%, Combined these parties have 51% of the vote in EU elections. The National Rally has 31%. If the French parliamentary elections are similar to the EU elections the left parties have to unite with Les Republicains and Renaissance to have a chance to prevent the National Rally from forming a government.

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A small group of advisers and Macon including Nicholas Sarkozy of the Les Republicains voted to have new elections. Les Republicains governed France under presidents De Gaulle and some of De Gaulle administration members Pompidou, Giscard and Sarkozy. Sarkozy was seen as aloof and was succeeded by the Socialist party's Francois Hollande. At that point in 2017 at the end of Hollande's term the Socialists failed to take up working class families issues, and it marked the beginning of the National Rally of Jean and Marine Le Pen gaining worker support. Macron was a minister in the Hollande government who detected an opportunity in the loss of support for both Sarkozy's Les Republicains and Hollande's Socialists. He set up his own movement for renewal of France saying France needed newer people than the old administrations and got an infusion of support from young people. Yet Macron lacked a specific program to get back the voter support of working class families as he implemented policy on climate without addressing concerns of cost of living leading to yellow vest protests. He was reelected im a close election with a challenge from National Rally 58% to 42% in second round after having only 5% point margin over Le Pen in first round, with help from the left vote. Macron spent the first two years of second term fighting the unions and labor over pension reform, when his measures failed to pass the Assembly he used executive action. As a result support in small towns and other parts of France has shifted to National Rally, with the immigration issue adding to support and young people frustrated by Macron not tackling key issues of working class people decided to shift to the National Rally and to Melenchon left party, and to Socialist parties. As Macron is closely allied with Les Republicains ideology he is looking for away to rebuild the LR and his EN Marche as an alternative in 2027 presidential elections. ...

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After the National Rally party of Le Pen wins 30% of the vote to Macron's En Marche 15% in EU elections, showing the unpopularity of Macron, Macron responds by calling for snap elections. Macron is taking an aggressive approach to stop NR party as so far  parliamentary elections in France  have led to voters on the left and right veering to the centre to avoid giving the far right National Rally of Le Pen a win. National Assembly elections also require getting 50% of the vote under different rules than EU elections.  Politico points out that the situation is different today as the NR is more in the mainstream of politics. Macron's hope is that the NR would increase its seat numbers from 88 but not as much, and that other parties such as the Republicains and the Socialist parties, the parties that governed France since 1945 would also make gains. He could then appoint a prime minister not from En Marche his party but from the Republicains party of Nicholas Sarkozy, French president (2007-2012), which supports Macron.  ...

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After the German election the next election in France in 2022 will provide new direction for Europe. As in Germany with Olaf Scolz of the Social Democrats, in France an alternative is emerging with Xavier Bertrand of the Les Republicains. Like Scholz Bertrand was Labor Minister working to tackle difficult problems of increasing employment in the French economy going back a decade. In recent elections the party French president Emmanuel Macron created as a member of Francois Hollande's government has floundered. Macron hastily put together the En Marche in Amiens on April 16, 2017, when he was minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs in the government of president Hollande. During the eight year period in which the centre right Christian Democrats CDU and center left Social Democrats SPD had ruled in a coalition government in Germany some version of centrist politics and government had also prevailed in France. After the Sarkozy years 2007-2012 under the centre right Les Republicains party  France turning to the centre left Socialists under Francois Hollande. As a young minister 39 years Macron lacked experience, and the initial enthusiasm that helped him win the 2017 presidential election is now missing. As in Germany voters are looking for change not just in slogans but in substance in a new Trans Atlantic partnership of US, Germany and France to tackle the may problems that were neglected in the last two decades of changing administrations in US and France and the Merkel administration in Germany- problems of social cohesion, of income inequality, division of country into rural and urban, eastern and western in Germany, southern and northern in the US, neglect of infrastructure, and failure to invest in the future.  France is now turning to the Les Republicains party in recent elections, and away from Le Pen's far right party and Macron's party.  Both Macron and Le Pen did very poorly in recent regional elections. This report in FR24 points out that the candidate for the Les Republicains party will be chosen at a convention, and not at a primary as happened in 2017 leading to the elimination of former Republicains president Nicholas Sarkozy. The president of the Haute France regional council Xavier Bertrand is the leading candidate from the regional election results. Bertrand was Sarkozy's minister of Labor and Solidarity from 2007 to 2009, and Minister of Labor, Employment and Health in 2009. Today Olaf Scholz, winner of the German elections in September 2021 was also Minister of Labor- in the Social Democrats/ Greens government under Gerhard Schroeder 1998 to 2005. Voters now realize that it is important to value experience, stability, combined with humility and a determination to get things done, compared to charismatic leaders with little to show in results, and tangible improvements in the quality of life, in national renewal.      ...

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Simon Tisdall says in The Guardian that Macron's style of bold, haughty and hyper may not work in the 2022 election. En Marche was a movement hastily put together by Macron as a minister in the government of French Socialist party's Hollande, months before the last presidential election. It has failed to live up to its goal of renewal in France. The first round of the French election is on April 10, 2022.

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Edouard Philippe resigns as prime minister as he begins a new phase for the 2022 presidential elections. His popularity increased to 50% for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in France, exceeding Macron's 38% in June. Mr. Philippe won the race for New Havre in recent municipal elections in which Mr. Macron's party failed to win a single large city, making its future uncertain. The Ecology party recently split from Mr. Macron's party in parliament. In 3 years in office Mr. Philippe maintained his independence and did not join the Macron party. Mr. Philippe followed a conservative path in government. His replacement is Mr Castex, mayor of a small town Prades in southern France.

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BBC News looks at the situation in Bordeaux, France, after the Front Populaire wins the election. The NFP has a seasoned candidate in this parliamentary seat who can greet people by name. The RN candidate is 18 years old and is new to campaigning, showing that the RN of Le Pen had to field candidates with very little time for preparation in a snap election. People in Bordeaux and NFP supporters say 2025 and 2026 are years in which the Front Populaire has to deliver on cost of living actions to improve the lives of people struggling to make a living. For this to happen Macron has to give the NFP the chance to govern in the interests of the people of France and not obstruct actions needed to tackle cost of living. The Socialist parties have the experience to govern and obstruction would only further reduce the popularity of the Les Republicains and Macron's party.

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Elections to France's 13 regional councils is showing weak support for president Macron's En Marche party that was newly created by Macron. Macron's party won less than 10% of the vote in the regional elections. The Republicans, former president Sarkozy's party were written off after Macron's win. Instead the Republicans who are conservatives and represent the Gaullist tradition have revived under Sarkozy's health minister Xavier Bertrand. Mr. Bertrand now remains the main candidate with Macron for the French presidential election in 2022. Terrorist attacks, the sense of a lack of law and order, and the pandemic, have revived the conservatives in France. Brexit nationalism, the failure of the socialist Labor party and a shift of laborites in the north of England to the conservatives under Boris Johnson led to a Johnson win in British elections. A similar situation is unfolding in France. Xavier has served under presidents Chirac and Sarkozy, both in the Gaullist tradition. He was Sarkozy's spokesperson in 2007 and helped run Sarkozy's election campaign. He was Health Minister from 2010 to 2012. ...

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Emmanuel Macron faces a challenging situation in  the 2022 second round. He badly needs left wing supporters of Mr. Melenchon who came with one percentage point of right wing Marie Le Pen. Macron had expressed right wing sentiments about immigration and terrorism even more than Le Pen during the year leading upto this election. That this has alienated some left wing supporters is evident in a nIpsos poll for FR24 that shows 30% or about a third of the 22% of the voters that supported former Socialist candidate Jean Luc-Melenchon are likely to vote for Le Pen, who has campaigned on the issue of cost of living and softened her image and position on the European Union. 34% of Melenchon's supporters said they will support Macron and 36% said they are undecided. It is this undecided vote that could make a difference. Add to this the 25% of the voters who did not vote at all and the election depends on who can convince this segment. To reach these voters is Macron's main concern in the 2 weeks before the second round of the election on April 24. Macron says he will campaign hard-"from dawn to dusk, in direct contact with voters." He will have to offer something that convinces working class voters who some see he has humiliated during his first term.  ...

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Adam Nossiter of the NYT describes the coalition of right and left parties in France that have united against the National Front, called in France "the Republican Front." In the 2002 Marine Le Pen's father made it to the second round of the presidential election, but lost to centre right party leader Jacques Chirac who won 78% of the vote. Analysts say the Republican Front is coming up this time once more for daughter Marine Le Pen, as she goes into the second round of the election in 2017 fifteen years later with support in the north and northeast of the country and in the coastal south east around Marseille and Nice. Le Pen appeals to working class people with nationalist slogans. The Republican Party of former president Sarkozy represents the centre right, and it is combining with the centre left Socialist Party of president Hollande to call for the election of Emmanuel Macron and for support to Macron's En Marche movement. One expert predicts the National Front may leave the centrist views of Le Pen adviser Philippot, and return to hard right roots. Former president Sarkozy was mentioned on French television Fr24 as hoping to make a comeback by boosting the chances of the Republican Party in the June parliamentary elections, and creating a situation in which a future president works with a prime minister from the Republican Party. As the Macron En Marche movement is only one year old, it is not well prepared to contest the parliamentary elections, opening the door to the formation of new coalitions for government in France. ...

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French premier Barnier meets Marie Le Pen of National Rally. National Rally says it will veto any policies that reduce the purchasing power of the French people. Barnier lays out austerity policies and cuts in spending. National Rally had 8 seats, after this year's election it has 125 seats in the National Assembly. The Socialist bloc is the largest party but lacks amajority to form a government. Les Republicains party, Macron's party with National Rally's support are running the administration till another election is called to clear up the situation of no party having a majority. Macron remains president till May 2027 to oversee the situation.

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France's regional elections show president Macron's party has failed to covert national power into grassroots support. Macron's En Marche party was reduced to just 10% of the vote. Some called it a slap in the face for Macron's party. It was hastily setup during Socialist president Hollande's last year in office in April 2016 by one of his ministers Emmanuel Macron. The National Front of Marie Le Pen on the far right also lost support and won just 19% of the vote. About a third of the vote went to candidates from the former Republican party of president Sarkozy. Xavier Bertrand from the Republican party, which is in the Gaullist tradition, was one of the winners and emerges as a presidential candidate. Only 34% of voters turned out with very young people and people over 35 not turning out to vote. It appears that voters are now disillusioned with the party of Macron and Marie Le Pen that had hoped to win voters from the two traditional parties the Gaullist party and the Socialist party. The socialists did well in western France and have gained at a regional level. The Gaullist party, called Republicans under Sarkozy now looks to gain at the national level. The situation in Germany shows voters shifting back from the far right back to the traditional parties. In the regional election in eastern Germany the AfD far right lost to the CDU recently. Voters are beginning to return to the traditional parties. In Germany this includes a shift to the Greens party that has gained as the voters shift to moderate parties. Macron lost much support and was seen as not sensitive enough to people who had struggled to make a living because of changes in the economy and the urban rural split, social upheaval. He had a popular prime minister during the first wave of the coronavirus  in 2020 who Macron removed as this would create a candidate who might run against him in the national elections. A series of terrorist actions led to a sense of a lack of safety which added to voter unease and the shift to the traditional centre right Republicans.  ...

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Raphael Glucksmann is emerging as a surprise for the Socialists just as Macron emerged out of the cabinet of Francois Hollande as leader of En Marche. Socialists and Democrats Alliance is the party group in the EU parliament that represents social democratic parties in Europe that govern in Germany, Denmark, Spain and are prominent in Sweden and France. Melenchon leads an alliance of socialist parties in France but has not done as well with moderates. Raphael Glucksmann is seen as a new voice for Socialists in France in upcoming elections. Migration has shaken up parties in Europe but this may be receding in importance as most of the socialist parties have shifted to strict policies to keep out migrants. This is happening in the US as Mr. Biden has closed the border with Mexico. Climate Change was an issue in elections helping the Greens in the last chancery election. As socialist parties and conservative parties adopt the Greens policies on climate this has reduced support for Greens from the peak in 2020. ...

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Macron started out in the Socialist Party in Amiens, France. After going to elite schooling he joins the Socialist Party ministry of Francois Hollande. As Minister of the Economy he rises rapidly to replace Hollande with his own party called the Movement that he sets up and within a year wins presidential elections. The rapid rise, the lack of his Movement party having much experience and put together quickly with new younger people, his aloof presidency, and a lack of connection with the problems brought on by the deindustrialisation of France as production shifts to China, the problems of lack of work and cost of living in smaller towns in France, lead to Macron's loss of popularity. His party won only 10% of the vote in EU elections and 20% in the first round of Assembly elections in 2024. He is now allied with Sarkozy's Les Republicains, the very party he sought to replace by calling it old school and no longer relevant.  A small faction of the Les Republicains shifts out to ally with the National Rally of Le Pen and together the 2 parties seek a majority or near majority in the Assembly to take the prime minister position under Macron. The result would be a too young at 28 years Bardella as PM and the Socialist Alliance a close second in the National Assembly. Macron would have to come to terms with the Socialists he had abandoned to run the country and appoint Oliver Faure as prime minister if a second round gives his Movement and the Socialists over 50% of the vote. ...

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Mr. Macron is beginning to listen to young voters says this report in The Guardian, yet after this election is over it says he has to do some profound rethinking. The abstention rate of 40% for young voters under 35 should be deeply disturbing. Too much power is concentrated in the presidency and little in parliament, it is true, with Macron's aloof style making things worse. Yet for young voter to say they are indifferent to a vote for Macron or Le Pen shows that Macron has much to do to win the trust of younger voters. The Guardian cites a Cambridge University study that shows the current disillusionment outstrips ones of previous generations, and has more substance than the one that shook De Gaulle in 1968 as opportunity was growing in France for all parts of society in 1968 compared to 2022.  The frustrations at work are common to US, Britain, Germany, France and all of western Europe- precarious and unfulfilling work, low pay, and asset based inequality, that is creating a slow burn generational crisis, says The Guardian. ...

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French parliamentary election first round results show Macron's party neck and neck with the left parties bloc led by Jean Luc Melenchon. Melenchon is shown in polls to be slightly ahead. The second round of the election is on June 19. Macron is unlikely to have a majority and may need the support of the centre right Les Republicains. The voter demographic of the Macron party and the Les Republicains is older voters, centre right, who tend to vote in larger numbers than younger voters. Voter abstention is high with 48% of the voters having voted in the first round and shows deep voter dissatisfaction with the political elites in France. Before Macron two one term presidents led the government- Sarkozy of the Les Republicains and Hollande of the Socialist party. Macron was Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs minister in the Socialist party Hollande government before he formed his own party in April 2016 months before the election calling for a revitalization of French politics away from the two leading parties. His party was named Le Republique En Marche with younger people not connected to traditional parties.   Macron won a second term with the help of Mr. Melenchon's socialist supporters. Melenchon called for not a single vote for Marie Le Pen the far right candidate in the second round of the presidential election. Melenchon and Marie Le Pen were neck and neck in the first round.  Within Macron's party Louis Philippe a popular prime minister leads a faction that Macron will need to negotiate with in addition to Mr. Melenchon for parliamentary support. There is also a situation of cohabitation that would happen if Mr. Melenchon wins a majority in the National Assembly. Melenchon says the results in the first round "offer an extraordinary opportunity for the destiny of the common homeland to defeat the disastrous politics of the majority, of Macron." In 1997-2002 France went through cohabitation with the president and prime minister from different parties. Lionel Jospin was prime minister with Jacques Chirac as president. Yellow vest protests in 2018, gilets jaunes, were a result of increase in automobile fuel prices and the cost of living, and the general sense of dissatisfaction with policies of president Macron that were seen as not favoring workers and families finding it hard to make ends meet. The working class vote and vote of younger people is evenly split between the far right of Marie Le Pen which does well in rural areas, and the socialists under Melenchon in working class districts of larger cities. In providing support for the European Union and traditional French foreign policy, Macron and the socialist parties have common ground compared to the anti- EU policies of Le Pen resulting in votes cast for Macron that were really for melenchjon in the presidential election in which Macron secured a second term. Cohabitation then offers the popular alternative for a prime minister such as Melenchon for domestic policy and a president in the form of Macron for foreign policy at a critical time for Europe with the EU response to Russia including the embargo. ...

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French voters turned to parties outside the mainstream left Socialist Party and the right Republican Party for the first time in a run off presidential election. The National Front's Jean Le Pen made it to the runoff in 2002, then lost to Chirac of the Republican Party who won 78% of the vote. This time the Republican Party candidate Fillon had about 20%, the Socialist Party candidate Hamon won just 6% of the vote with the rest of the socialist vote going to a far left candidate Jean Luc Melenchon who had 19.6%. The winners were Emmanuel Macron, a former Economy minister under president Hollande of the socialist Party, getting about 24% and Marine Le Pen, the daughter of Jean Le Pen of the National Front, getting 21.5%. Compared to the U.S. the situation is slightly different in France because of the very high unemployment rate for young people- younger voters supported the National Front, and people especially in rural areas in the north, north east, and the south of the country around Nice and Marseille supported the National Front. Macron's movement En Marche, centrist party drawing support from centre right and centre left without clear ideology except to renew France and pro-EU, was strong in urban areas, among more educated people, especially in Paris and the area around Bordeaux and Toulouse in the south east of the country. Fillon did not do well in some traditional Republican Party areas including Nice, with inroads from Le Pen, who defined the party around anti-immigration, closed borders, and withdrawal from the European Union. ...

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Emmanuel Macron graduated from Sciences Po University in 2004 with a degree in public affairs. He joins the Finance Ministry as an inspector and then buys himself out of government service contract by 2008 to join a private bank. He arranges an acquisition from Nestle and other business deals during this period. In 2012 he is appointed as deputy secretary general for the president's office after Francois Hollande a socialist is elected to the presidency. In 2014 he is offered the position of Minister of Industry and Digital Affairs in the second Manuel Valls government. He makes some changes to French government but opposes the wealth tax or tax on business, and is generally pro-business, though he acts as a member of the Socialist party.  He uses this period to build momentum for his own run for the presidency as support for Hollande falters having lost support from his working class base with Macron and Valls inspired changes.  Macron finally announces he will run for the presidency forming his own En Marche movement which he finances with his own fund raising. Throughout this period right up to the election in 2017 Macron has not run for public office. When he wins the presidency in that year he lacks the experience needed as the youngest president in French history at the age of 39. Like another young president Obama he handles his public image with the media for his En Marche movement promising to unblock France. This public image and his lack of experience makes him impervious to the social changes going on in France that lead to the yellow vest protests in 2018. This is a period when there are changes in the midwest as workers in Michigan and other midwestern states turn away from Hillary Clinton and Obama.  French workers are in the position of workers in the US with the decline of manufacturing, much of it shifted with the supply chain to China and Japan, and the gap opening between rural and urban tech educated areas. Macron follows Obama's quick rise from Senator to run for president yet lacks experience, and lacks sufficient grasp of the social changes with loss of manufacturing, the wide gaps between rural and urban tech educated people, conditions in the rural and farming areas. Macron survives this period, is reelected in 2022 with the help of socialist Melenchon voters. He says he will govern differently, less distant from average Frenchmen, but his instincts are to push for pension reform. At a time of cost of living crisis, and when the French budget office says the change in pension from 62 to 64 was not critical at the present time when inflation was hitting the public after the pandemic. Macron does this by Article 49 in the way he has done under the Manuel Valls government, by executive action alone. This time he faces a no confidence motion in parliament in March 2023 following some of the largest protests France has seen in years, with two thirds of the French according to FR24 opposing the change in pension law. Women see this as coming at a time when age discrimination hurts their chances of earning a living after 50 years of age.  Age discrimination is widespread in France, in a way it is not in Germany, say reports in the NYT. And with the cost of living crisis acts as a major hurdle for the average French person, if pensions are delayed without addressing these cultural issues in France. The result is that the protests have substance and Macron is seen as not sensitive to this at a time when he lacks a majority in parliament. ...

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The first round of France's parliamentary elections show president Macron's party, La Republique en Marche, winning 28% of the vote. The turnout was low, below 50%, below the turnout of 57% in 2012 and 60% in 2007. The Republican Party gained 22% and the National Front 13%. The Socialist Party lost heavily gaining only 7% of the vote.

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The election of Merz in Germany as chancellor means a sharing of minds with Macron of France, the two leaders share the same approach, coming 3 years after the inertia under chancellor Scholz. It means the steps will be taken for European defense and for a European alternative to NATO. It also means efforts will be made for the French-German economic engine to be revived. 

UK's prime minister Starmer also supports this effort for a united Europe to tackle defense and economic challenges in 2025. Leyen, head of the European Union is also a member of CDU party of Merz and led the defense ministry under Merkel.

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Pocketbook issues are taking increasing importance in the French election on April 24. Greg Ip of the WSJ says inflation has risen in importance more than immigration, the war in Ukraine, and other issues related to Islamist separatism. About 45% cited purchasing power as the main issue in a BVA poll, and this is even higher for people who voted for Jean-Luc Melenchon who came within 1% percentage point of Ms. Le Pen in the first round. Greg Ip says that in economic issues France has done better than Germany, Italy or the UK. Unemployment is at 7.4% the lowest since 2008. Economic output has risen more than in Germany, Italy or the the UK since Mr. Macron took office. And one study shows disposable income has risen higher under Macron than under predecessors Hollande and Sarkozy. France also spent heavily to tackle the Covid pandemic's effect on workers and companies. Ip says Macron's efforts to liberalize labor markets, simplify taxes and wage bargaining and make training programs more effective could be the reason. Youth unemployment is the lowest in nearly 40 years, and the number of apprenticeships doubled from 2019 to 2021, according to BNP Paribas. Pisani-Ferry, economist at Sciences Po says compared to past performance the French economy did much better. Le Pen has promised to cut the value added tax to tackle inflation's effect on voters. Macron has said he will be flexible when it comes to raising the age for retirement and pensions and calls Le Pen's lowering the retirement age creating problems for the solvency of the pension system and highly unrealistic.   ...