Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office

Mar 4th, 2024

The Far Right Has Found Its Place in Europe’s Institutions

Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) has long claimed an anti-establishment identity, irreducible to Left or Right. But its march to power also relies on winning institutional figures to its camp. With ex-Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri running for the Rassemblement National in the EU elections, boundaries between mainstream institutional politics and the far right seem ever more blurred. David Broder on the French Far Right.

Jun 13th, 2023

Unity Makes Strength?

This study aims to provide a brief analysis of the current state of affairs in the European Union in order to analyse the perspectives of the French left in the 2024 European Parliament election. In France, the question of the union of the left was at the heart of public debates in the year preceding the presidential election of April 2022.

Jan 23rd, 2023

Macron Makes a Power Move

The French president’s deeply unpopular pension reform could make or break his administration

Jul 6th, 2022

The Re-Parlamentarization of French Politics

Although this first election only had one winner, the tripartition that has worked the political field since 2017 was heavily reflected in the results and now structures a national assembly divided between the group Ensemble, the Nupes and the RN

Jun 20th, 2022

Quick Take on the French Legislative Elections: Wins for the Far Right and Broad Left, Macron in Trouble

While the headiest dreams – of a radical left National Assembly with Jean-Luc Mélenchon as its Prime Minister – have been dashed, the Popular Union (NUPES) led by La France Insoumise (LFI) emerges from yesterday’s legislative elections as the principal opposition to a weakened President Macron

Apr 11th, 2022

Not Out of the Woods Yet

The incumbent president placed first with 27.8 percent of the vote, putting him slightly ahead of the far-right leader, who scored a record high of 23.1 percent

Mar 21st, 2022

Who's Who?

Less than one month ahead of the first round of French presidential elections, who are the left and progressive candidates, and how do their political projects compare? And more pointedly, do any of them stand a chance?

Mar 4th, 2022

A Strategic Compass Leading Where?

In the shadow of Putin’s revanchist war in Ukraine, member states are developing the European Union’s first full-fledged military strategy

Jan 21st, 2022

In the shadow of the presidential election

35,000 municipalities and more than 500,000 local elected representatives. 500 mayoral signatures of support required for each presidential hopeful. For outside observers, these vertiginous numbers may come as a surprise. A legacy of the French Revolution, this system has undergone many reforms over the years, with the creation of multiple political and administrative layers that are often criticised for their costliness, tangle of responsibilities and questionable effectiveness. With presidentialism clearly dominating today’s institutional system in France, what is the role of these many local authorities, and how much influence do they wield? By Elsa Dimicoli.

Dec 23rd, 2021

France’s Culture War Election

Four months from the French presidential elections, journalist Cole Stangler untangles the messy knot of right, center, and left-wing campaigns. Who’s who among the presidential hopefuls, where are their campaigns heading, and why does a Left unity ticket currently appear so unlikely?

Dec 21st, 2021

Something Is Rotten in the State of France

Whether or not he wins France's April 2022 presidential election, Éric Zemmour can already claim a major victory in having thrusted his half-baked racist views to the centre of national public debate. For his supporters, who constantly invoke Antonio Gramsci, this victorious cultural battle is undoubtedly a precursor to future electoral triumphs.

Nov 15th, 2021

Call for Tenders: Coordination of analyses on political developments in France

The tender is for a service to coordinate our online series «A Season in Hell» of reports on French contemporary politics

Oct 19th, 2021

Could Marine Le Pen’s dominance of the French far right be under threat?

After her setback in the regional elections, Marine Le Pen now finds herself rattled by the unexpected rise of far-right media polemicist Éric Zemmour. Between its desire to represent a break with the status quo on the one hand, and its aspirations to electability on the other, her National Rally party is going through an identity crisis coupled with a weakening influence. But should this phenomenon be viewed as progress in the fight against the far right, or as heralding the emergence of more menacing spectres ahead?

Aug 11th, 2021

The deceptive coherence of Marine Le Pen’s electoral base

A recent poll shows the possibility of a far right victory in the second round of the 2022 French presidential election. While the poll gives a lead of a few points to Xavier Bertrand or Emmanuel Macron in the second round against Marine Le Pen, it indicates a victory for RN against Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot or Jean-Luc Mélenchon in that same round. The famous “glass ceiling” blocking the aspirations of the radical right-wing party could thus be broken by the disintegration of the “Republican front” if led by a left-wing figure. However, Le Pen’s electoral base is not as solid as it might appear, and herein lies the possibility to develop a strategy to combat the RN’s reactionary politics

Jul 14th, 2021

An open letter to the government

A recent open letter from former military leadership to the French government may not point to the risk of a military coup, but it does bear witness to the dangerous trivialisation of a political discourse based on “national security and communitarianism”, which marginalises certain social groups by advocating national primacy and the rejection of immigration. Even though its rough edges have been smoothed out by Marine Le Pen, this discourse remains foundational to the far right Rassemblement National

Jun 28th, 2021

Takeaways from yesterday’s regional elections in France

Season In Hell Editor Ethan Earle gives his top 5 takeaways from yesterday’s regional elections in France.”

Jun 16th, 2021

New Municipalism(s) – à la française

The 2020 French municipal elections saw an unprecedented proliferation of “citizens’ lists” composed of non-party affiliated “newcomers”

Apr 26th, 2021

After the Coal Rush

After the Coal Rush: A story of industrial decline, economic abandonment, and the rise of the far right in rural France. How did things get to this point, and where can we go from here? Incisive political commentary in this deeply personal essay from the outstanding Colin Kinniburgh

Mar 4th, 2021

150 years since the Paris Commune

With its 150th anniversary just around the corner, the indefatigable Michèle Audin explains why the Paris Commune was and remains important, for the construction of the French state as well as the imaginary of the international Left

Mar 1st, 2021

2021: Year Zero for the French Left

The French left has just over a year to get itself organised to win the presidency. But between the health crisis, which is paralysing political dynamics, and the profusion of candidates seemingly in the running, the trials to overcome are such that – even in the face of a weakened Emmanuel Macron – hope currently appears faint.