After seven weeks of delays and a series of ‘consultations’, French President Macron announced yesterday the appointment of Michel Barnier as Prime Minister from the traditional centre-right Les Republicains (LR), who came fourth in legislative elections where the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) won the most seats.

As this issue of Revolution goes to press, Macron has still not named the next occupant of the Hôtel Matignon. He simply dismissed the New Popular Front’s (NFP) proposal out of hand. But, from now on, the identity of the next Prime Minister is of little importance when it comes to analysing the political situation and its prospects.

The crisis of the French regime has the feel of a TV series. Yesterday’s episode was not lacking in a certain dramatic intensity.

Weeks after the second round of the legislative elections saw the left take the highest number of seats in the Assembly, internal negotiations within the New Popular Front (NFP) are logjammed. A division between the NFP’s left and right wing is preventing agreement on a candidate for Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Macron and the far-right are courting more conservative elements of the bloc to shut out La France Insoumise (LFI), block the NFP’s programme, and seek an absolute majority. Only militant struggle outside of parliament can break this impasse!

Three decades ago, between April and July 1994, the Rwandan government organised the extermination of almost 1 million people belonging to the Tutsi ethnic group. This genocide was aided and abetted by the French government, which both financed and armed those responsible, often referred to as ‘génocidaires’. But still, to this day, the French ruling class has not fully and openly recognised its responsibility for one of the most monstrous crimes of French imperialism.

The results of the second round of the French legislative elections brought joy and, above all, relief to millions of voters who feared a victory for the far-right National Rally (RN) bloc.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call snap legislative elections, with the final round this weekend, is proving a massive headache for the bourgeoisie. The prospect of Macron losing any semblance of a parliamentary majority is spooking the markets. At the same time, the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) is provoking hundreds of thousands to take to the streets in protest.

The results of the first round of the legislative elections are roughly in line with what the polls predicted. The turnout (66.7 percent) was much higher than in 2022 (47.5 percent). Who did this benefit? Not the Macronists, whose defeat was severe. The higher turnout benefited the left-wing New Popular Front and, even more so, the far right. This is shown by comparing the results – by number of votes – in 2022 and 2024.

Round one of the French legislative elections is on Sunday. The French communists call for a vote to beat the right and the extreme right at the polls, but we also anticipate major social struggles whatever the composition of the next government. That is to say, even if the left-wing New Popular Front wins, after round two on 7 July. In the following article, we analyse in more detail the storm sweeping French political life, as well as the different possible scenarios and the resulting tasks for the labour movement.

The result of the European elections and the dissolution of the National Assembly have acted like a catalyst on the political situation in France. That which was latent and maturing slowly has suddenly come to fruition.

The European elections in France swept away the parliamentary house of cards on which Macron’s government rested. The polls were a clear debacle for the government. Against a backdrop of massive abstention, the right-wing National Rally (RN) list received 31.5 percent of the votes, compared to less than half that for Macron’s list (14.6 percent). Exposed to the high risk of a no confidence vote, Macron preferred to take the lead and announce the dissolution of the National Assembly, in which he has not had an absolute majority since June 2022, triggering snap legislative elections. 

On 18 and 19 May, 120 comrades of Révolution– the French section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) – met for this year’s National Conference in Paris.

New Caledonia has been rocked for several days by riots that have so far claimed six lives. This uprising is the result of repeated provocations by the French imperialist government. In 2022 – after Macron forced through a referendum on independence in spite of his promises to the contrary – we published the article below, in which we wrote: “The French government welcomes the result, but the problem is by no means settled – and is bound to resurface, sooner or later.” Since then, the government has pushed ahead with a process of electoral reform that constitutes a significant provocation for the Kanaks.

The crisis in NUPES – the ‘union’ consisting of La France Insoumise (FI), the Socialist Party (PS), the Greens and the Communist Party (PCF) – is increasingly taking on the air of a bedroom farce: shouting, declamations, doors opening, slammed, and then opened again, etc. Boredom mixed with irritation is spreading among the audience, and little by little the auditorium is emptying.

On 17 October, the Paris prefecture banned a meeting, which was to be held at the Bourse du Travail the next day, to demand the release of pro-Palestinian activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, detained in France for nearly 40 years. On the evening of 18 October, at the time of the meeting, the Paris Labour Exchange was closed under the surveillance of the CRS (riot control police).