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Analysis-French left’s new ‘disobedient’ stance is warning shot for EU -Breaking

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO – Posters about Jean-Luc Melenchon’s election as parliamentarian (France Unbowed, – LFI), are displayed in Paris, France, May 3, 2022. Poster reads “Melenchon Prime Minister” REUTERS/Gonzalo Fue

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By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters). France’s partners in the European Union should be concerned that President Emmanuel Macron is now facing two eurosceptic opposition groups.

French voters left France this week unaffected by the pro-EU position of past left-wing coalitions.

This suggests a shift in French politics. For many years, the Socialist Party has been the leading force on the Left and a major driver for European integration. Now, the party is playing a secondary role in an alliance forged with Jean-Luc Melenchon (hard-left).

In April’s presidential elections, Socialists won just 1.75%. Melenchon, an orator and leader of France Insoumise, was able to win 22%. Marine Le Pen almost beat Melenchon in the run-off against Macron.

Harris Interactive released a poll last week that shows Macron’s party is leading the left-wing alliance with its 33% support. According to Harris Interactive, France’s dual-round voting system could still result in Macron’s party and allies capturing a majority vote.

HEAR TO ‘NON’

Melenchon, the son of France’s victory in “non”, is deeply divided. He rejected the 2005 referendum on ratification.

Melenchon broke away in 2008 from pro-EU Socialists and founded a party in 2017. It did not exclude France being taken out of the EU in 2017, if the bloc didn’t allow it to implement its large-spending protectionist platform.

This new alliance also contains Communists and Greens. It will be fighting under the banner of “Social And Ecological People’s Union”. The group says that it is committed to staying within the EU, and not abandoning the euro.

France would be in a difficult spot if it followed certain of its policies.

The government wants to reduce the retirement age from 62 to 60, increase the minimum wage to about 100 euro per month, nationalize the French former electricity and gas monopolies EDF and ENGIE, and cease complying with EU budget limitations and competition rules.

The Socialists stated that their agreement to be “disobedient” to EU rules was a reflection of the party’s “different history”, and preferred to state that they can “temporarily violate” EU laws.

However, they both agree that the common goal of their respective organizations is “to end the EU’s free market and productivist course”, which could be achieved by creating “tension with Brussels.”

EUROSCEPTICS ON BOTH SIDES

Melenchon party members were asked about how they could convince Brussels to swallow the pill. They said that the EU was bound by France’s economic size, unlike Alexis Tsipras’s situation in Greece when he lost an agreement with them during the crisis.

France is a powerful country in Europe. It represents 18% in the European economy. “It’s not like the Greece of Tsipras which negotiated with only 2% of Europe’s economy,” Adrien Qatennens, an important member of Melenchon’s party, said to Franceinfo radio.

A final approval of the Socialist Party’s National Committee is still required for this new electoral agreement. This will be done at Thursday night’s meeting.

Even though it failed to win the power vote in the June 12-19 parliamentary elections, Macron’s ban from running in 2027 for the third mandate and his inability to succeed him constitutionally increase the likelihood of one of these eurosceptic parties gaining control in the future.

Mujtaba Rahman from the Eurasia Group thought-thank stated to Reuters that “In long-term, it’s part a process where French politics is splitting into three: a proeuropean center and blocs the nationalist right or left – raising doubt about how long this centre can last.”

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