Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00To our top story next year on France 24 and that's Emmanuel Macron saying he's confident
00:04voters in France would make the right choice after he shocked the country and announced
00:08snap elections.
00:09The risky move, which dissolved parliament, came after his party suffered a huge defeat
00:14against the far-right National Rally in European elections.
00:18The party's Marine Le Pen, meanwhile, has welcomed the snap vote.
00:21And while she is refusing the Prime Minister's push, she says her goal remains securing the
00:26presidency in 2027.
00:29Who will be Prime Minister, Jordan Bardella or you Marine Le Pen?
00:35And why not you?
00:36I'm a woman of my word.
00:38I've always told the French people that for months now we've been working with Jordan Bardella
00:42as part of a real governing partnership.
00:45And we're working with the aim of fulfilling to the best of our ability the functions that
00:49the French people would entrust us with.
00:52As you know, I'm working towards the presidency.
00:55He's working towards the Prime Minister's job.
00:57There's no reason to change that.
00:59Marine Le Pen speaking there now.
01:04We can go across to France 24's Clovis Casali, standing by at the headquarters of the centre-right
01:09Les Républicains party.
01:11Clovis, good afternoon.
01:12The leader of that party is speaking now.
01:15What's Eric Ciotti been saying?
01:19Eric Ciotti has just made a groundbreaking announcement.
01:23Les Républicains, the right-wing party here in France, will make an alliance with the
01:29French far-right of Marine Le Pen.
01:32A historic decision.
01:34Until now, there had been here in France what one calls the Front Républicain, a Republican
01:39front.
01:40In other words, a way for mainstream parties to prevent any kind of deal with the French
01:47far-right.
01:49Mainstream parties deciding to reject Marine Le Pen and her far-right ideas and policies.
01:56It's all over now with the French party, Les Républicains, and Eric Ciotti, their boss,
02:02saying his party is currently too weak, too small in terms of the amount of votes they've
02:09been receiving, they've been getting in recent elections, to stand alone.
02:13And that's why he's going with Marine Le Pen.
02:16Let me give you a bit of background on this party, Les Républicains.
02:20It used to be called the UMP.
02:22They used to be in power with President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was, of course, part of the UMP.
02:31And therefore, it's very surprising to see this deal being concluded now against all odds.
02:37This morning, there had been some information in the media.
02:41Even a newspaper, Le Figaro, announcing that Ciotti was considering an alliance with Marine
02:47Le Pen.
02:48It's now a deal, a done deal.
02:50It's a done deal, Clovis, and I expect that the National Rally will be welcoming this
02:55news.
02:56Absolutely.
02:58The National Rally has been dreaming of this block of the right wing, if you will.
03:03That's what they've been calling for for years now.
03:06We see a far right with Marine Le Pen trying to change its image over the years, trying
03:12to come across as a serious, normal, if you will, political party.
03:18And that's why Marine Le Pen has been working hard over the years to try to attract right
03:23wing figures, people from the UMP, people from other sovereignist parties here in France.
03:30And she's managed now to do precisely that.
03:35And it will be interesting to see how people within the Les Républicains party react because
03:41you've got some centre-right politicians, more conservative politicians in this party.
03:47Some have already said, there's no way, we will never go with Marine Le Pen.
03:51So this is going to cause turmoil, internal divisions within Les Républicains party.
03:58And minutes ago, I was talking to a member of Renaissance, which is President Macron's
04:02party.
04:03And he was telling me that if this deal goes through, well, it's just a sign that Les Républicains
04:08and the far right National Rally are exactly the same.
04:11And they've embraced the same ideas, according to this Renaissance MP.
04:15It's been the case for years.
04:16They've been pushing for the same policies.
04:18And therefore, it's normal for such a deal to happen.
04:21Clovis, thank you very much for that.
04:23Clovis Ghassali reporting there from the headquarters of the centre-right Les Républicains.
04:27We can now bring in Samuel Hayat, researcher at Sciences Po Centre for Political Research.
04:34Good afternoon.
04:35Thank you very much for joining us here on France 24.
04:38In the past few minutes, we have the centre-right in France who's backing an alliance with the
04:44far right.
04:45What does that mean to you?
04:46Is it just Les Républicains who are trying to stay relevant?
04:50Well, they do try to stay relevant.
04:54But they are doing so at the expense of the unity of the political party, because a few
05:01minutes ago, senators from Les Républicains have said that they were unanimous in refusing
05:07this alliance with the extreme right.
05:10It is, so it will lead most likely to a real break among Republicans, among this right-wing
05:20political party.
05:23The left is also vowing to come together.
05:27Is there more need now, more than ever, for that alliance to be strong?
05:31Because within the left, there are so many divisions, particularly when it comes to France
05:35En Barthe, the party led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
05:39Well, the left was divided during the European elections, but they were united just two years
05:47ago in 2022.
05:50Many things have happened since then.
05:51We have the ongoing war in Ukraine.
05:53Many parties don't see eye to eye on.
05:55We have the ongoing war in Gaza.
05:57Many parties don't see eye to eye on.
06:00That's true.
06:01But you also had the reform pension, of pensions, where all the left was united in the streets
06:08and against this reform.
06:11So it seems that the disagreements, they are profound, but they do not prevent left-wing
06:18parties to work together and to, you know, find an agreement on not only question of
06:26persons, but also a question of program.
06:29Now you have to take into consideration the fact that antifascism is really a founding
06:35element, a moral element of the left in France.
06:39So the idea that the extreme right is, you know, very much ready to seize power is a
06:47very, very strong incentive for all left-wing people to, you know, forge an alliance.
06:54What do you say about the Socialist Party?
06:57Has Raphael Glucksmann managed to revive the fortunes of this party, which was written
07:02off in 2022?
07:05We should recall the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, stood for the presidency and came
07:10in with just 1.7 percent or something like that.
07:13No, it's true.
07:14And Raphael Glucksmann was very, made very good European campaign.
07:20And you know, he succeeded in gathering lots of center-left or left-wing people that are
07:26in favor of the European Union in general.
07:30But when it comes to actual French politics, you know, Raphael Glucksmann is not a member
07:34of the Socialist Party.
07:36He is the head of a very small party called Place Publique.
07:42And it seems that, you know, he was not invited to the negotiations about the new Popular
07:48Front.
07:49He was not there.
07:50And so now he's saying that he is against it.
07:54But he's pretty much alone in that endeavor for now.
07:59But I think that the alliance between the National Front and Les Républicains will
08:06make it even more difficult for left-wing people to refuse the new Popular Front.
08:13Now we have Eric Ciotti again of the center-right Les Républicains party, who's saying he has
08:19spoken held talks with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella from the far-right National Rally
08:26Party.
08:27Given what we've seen the Les Républicains do and what has happened to the far-right
08:33in Europe, has the far-right been normalized?
08:36Is it being normalized here in France based on the actions of the center-right Les Républicains
08:40party?
08:41Well, the ideas of the far-right have been normalized.
08:44But it's not new.
08:45I mean, Les Républicains is not a center-right party.
08:48It's a very right-wing party, very conservative, that have a platform that is on many questions
08:55very close to the one of the National Front.
08:59So before the normalization of the National Rally as a party, there was the normalization
09:05of their ideas, because Les Républicains have borrowed lots of their elements of their
09:11program from the National Rally.
09:14And to a certain extent, it is also true for Emmanuel Macron.
09:19There is a sort of normalization of extreme right ideas in France.
09:25And it is, of course, very preoccupying for people who are, you know, humanists and do
09:32not believe that extreme right-wing ideas are the solution to the problems of the hour.
09:37Samuel Hayat, we're going to have to leave you there.
09:39Thank you very much for joining us on the program today.
09:41Thank you.