French elections: World leaders react to far-right surge

The morning after Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party stormed to a dominant position in the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday, June 30, the rest of the world woke up to the new landscape of French politics. The UK, Russia, Poland and Spain had different reactions to the results of snap elections brought about when French President Emmanuel Macron called for the dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale on June 9.

A ‘lesson’ for the UK

The far-right victory in the first round of France’s parliamentary elections is a sign for politicians to better respond to disaffected voters, UK Labour leader Keir Starmer said on Monday. Starmer’s center-left party is a firm favourite to seize power at the UK general election on Thursday, July 4, bucking the trend of a rightward shift in Europe and elsewhere, and making him prime minister.

“The lesson I take from (the RN score) is that we need to address the everyday concerns of so many people,” he said as the UK election campaign entered its final few days. “We have to take that head on and we have to show both Thursday in the United Kingdom and across Europe and the world that only progressives have the answers to the challenges that are facing us in this country and across Europe,” he added, concluding: “We have to make that progressive cause but we have to, in making that, understand why it is… that people do feel disaffected with politics.”

Labour is campaigning on a platform for “change” after 14 years of Conservative government marked by economic upheaval, including a biting cost-of-living crisis, divisions over Brexit and a succession of party scandals. Starmer, a former human rights lawyer and chief public prosecutor, said what was needed was to “return politics to service and continue to make that argument that politics is a force for good.”

The campaign has been increasingly dominated by the challenge posed to the right-wing Tories from Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, and whether it can translate polling popularity into parliamentary seats. However, Labour has also warned about the dangers of complacency, given that it has been so far ahead in the polls for so long, urging voters not to stay at home but to turn out to secure a change of government.

Kremlin is watching ‘very closely’

The Kremlin is following the election results in France “very closely,” a spokesperson said Monday. “The preferences of French voters are more or less clear to us,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russian officials said the results of the French elections would be judged alongside political developments elsewhere, including upcoming votes in the US and UK. “Last week, we saw (Joe) Biden lose the debate (against Donald Trump). And now Macron’s party has lost, coming in third place in the legislative elections. The heads of state in power are suffering resounding defeats,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian Duma.

Other Russian officials and political analysts were sceptical that the developments signalled an imminent shift in relations between the Kremlin and the West. “We should not expect an improvement in relations between Paris and Moscow after the legislative elections,” said Vladimir Dzhabarov, vice president of the Foreign Affairs Commission, according to local media.

“We must not exaggerate the importance of the Rassemblement National and its influence on French politics,” also warned analyst Georgy Bovt on Russian radio BFM.bovt “The leaders of the RN have already made it known that French support for Ukraine would not be called into question,” he recalled.

Poland warns of ‘dangerous’ turn

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Monday of a “very dangerous” turn for France and Europe after the far right won the first round of pivotal French elections. “This is all really starting to smell very dangerous,” said former EU chief Tusk, who also made allegations about “Russian influence” in “many parties of the radical right in Europe.”

“Even the complete victory of the radical right of Mrs. (Marine) Le Pen’s camp does not signal the loss of power by the centre represented by President (Emmanuel) Macron,” Tusk told reporters in Rzeszow, a vital hub for Western aid to Ukraine. “But it is a very clear sign of what is happening not only in France, but also in some other countries, also in Western Europe,” he added, without specifying any additional European countries.

The former European Council president also spoke of a “dangerous trend”, and pointed to fears that “France can soon become the sick person of Europe, because it will be forced to confront these radical forces. Foreign forces and enemies of Europe are engaged in this process, hiding behind these movements,” he added, without giving further details.

Spain believes the French left can ‘rally’

Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on the Cadena Ser radio station on Monday that he remained “hopeful the French left would rally” after the first round of parliamentary elections, believing that the far right had to be beaten “by governing (…) as Spain has done for six years.”

Stressing “the importance of betting on progressive policies, on progressive governments that demonstrate, as the Spanish government is doing, that lies and fake news can be deconstructed,” Sanchez declared that he did not take “the victory of the far right as a done deal.” In his view, “you always win against the far right by governing, by implementing progressive policies.”

Germany concerned by far right victory

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Monday the far-right’s electoral success was a cause for concern. “Nobody can be indifferent when… in our closest partner and friend, a party that sees Europe as the problem and not the solution is far ahead (in the polls),” Baerbock told journalists in Berlin.

Italy says ‘demonization’ losing impact

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Monday that the “constant attempt to demonize” far-right voters was losing impact. “I notice something that in different forms is also happening in Italy: the constant attempt to demonize and corner the people who don’t vote for the left,” she said. “It’s a trick that serves to escape from the debate on the merits of the different political proposals. But it’s a trick that fewer and fewer people fall for,” Meloni told the Adnkronos news agency, in her first comments following the first round’s results Sunday.

“On a political level, I congratulate the National Rally and its allies for their clear success in the first round,” Meloni said, noting that Le Pen’s party had also managed to find allies within the conservative Les Républicains party.