The most outrageous week for the right wing in France in decades occurred this week.
The story started on Sunday night when the far right unexpectedly won the European parliamentary elections, taking home about 40% of the vote in France. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, quickly shocked the nation by calling for early legislative elections.
He explained his massive wager on the unexpected victory this week by saying, “I just don’t want to give the keys to the far right in 2027 (in France’s next presidential election).”
Following their victory in the European election, there has been much conjecture that the National Rally, led by far-right magnate Marine Le Pen and her young protege Jordan Bardella, may at the very least overthrow Macron’s own centrist bloc and become the kingmaker of the nation’s next government.
Macron’s presidential tenure is secure till 2027, but he must contend with the prospect of a government filled and led by far-right ministers—hardly comforting ideas for a man of his caliber.
However, the rise of the far right has upset the equilibrium of the French political right, with almost comical outcomes.
In a matter of days, one leader on the right would have his headquarters besieged, and all but one of his recently elected parliamentarians would have abandoned another. The knives were out in the far right’s power war.
enclosed and locked
On Tuesday, the president of The Republicans—long the dominant political party in France—Eric Ciotti, announced an unexpected alliance with Le Pen’s far-right party.
As said, his reasoning was measured: “The nation has never been so right-wing,” he remarked. “The nation anticipates right-wing behavior.”
His colleagues’ response was anything but that.
As his fellow Republican Valerie Pecresse phrased it, “selling your soul for a plate of lentils and making it look like the country’s best interest.”
Online, he received cries of “shame” from fellow Republican colleagues, both past and present.
After decades in the conventional mainstream, which took pride in the so-called “cordon sanitaire,” which used strategic partnerships to shield the French power centers from the far right, the Republicans under Ciotti found themselves on the outside with slightly over 7% of the vote.
Ciotti saw an opportunity to gain significance with the emergence of the far right.
His group wasn’t in agreement.
As the French President put it, his “deal with the devil,” party leaders called for his excommunication from the party amid a whirlwind of indignation.
His disobedience—locking himself inside the party’s offices in an attempt to stifle them—will go down in French political history.
And with that, a column of party chiefs marched to remove him. The most unforgettable moment was when she unexpectedly rolled up her sleeves in front of a group of reporters to take on Ciotti’s defiant. She was the president of the regional council for the Paris area.
Simultaneously, memes featuring police SWAT squads or hostage negotiators ejecting Ciotti were blazing on francophone social media.
Less dramatic but true nonetheless: his coworkers discovered extra keys that opened the door.
By Wednesday night, the party had expelled Ciotti, and its secretary general had blasted the “unholy alliance” with the far right—a critique that echoed that of Macron himself.
However, the now-so-called former party head went down hard, calling the leadership meeting “illegitimate” and “with no legal standing” in a news release signed by The Republicans.
He wrote on X, the former Twitter platform, “I am and remain the president of our political formation, elected by our members.”
He explicitly rejected being kicked out of the party when he tweeted a video of himself on Thursday morning while seated at his work and added a dramatic soundtrack reminiscent of Hollywood.
The 21st century was proud of this attempted coup: The party’s X account appeared to be in the hands of the putschists, while Ciotti supporters controlled the party’s Facebook page, where the accounts were posting contradictory remarks about the party’s leadership.
On Friday, Ciotti received vindication when a French court declared that his removal was unlawful.
After the decision, he declared, “Justice has spoken; she said you can’t do whatever you want, you can’t do DIY.”
Meanwhile, at the third stage…
Chaos, which frequently played out on national TV screens, was likewise the norm further to the right in French politics.
Lead by former TV analyst Eric Zemmour and Le Pen’s niece, Executive Vice President Marion Marechal, the Reconquest party rode the coattails of National Rally, garnering about 5% of the French vote in the European parliamentary election. The party was established in 2021 only.
Similar to Ciotti, Marechal has been attempting to establish an official alliance with her aunt’s party since Sunday, riding the far-right wave of support all the way to the cabinet.
Zemmour appeared to disagree, showing on his face that he was shocked by Marechal’s efforts when she made them public on national television on Sunday night.
She went rogue and advised Reconquest fans to vote for their far-right rivals, seemingly irritated by his rejection.
On live television, she declared, “Let’s put the interests of France before those of the party.”
Zemmour was incensed. He called her a liar later that day in a broadcast interview with BFMTV. He declared, “She’s broken the world record for betrayal.”
He then severed Marechal’s links to his party and declared her exiled, along with the three recently elected European legislators who had backed her. Zemmour is now a pariah even among the far-right, having been left with just one member of the European Parliament.
“It pains me to have to address these domestic disputes during a period when our nation is nearing its demise, when hope may at last be rejuvenated,” he bemoaned on X.
He denied Marechal’s claims in his statement on X, the former Twitter, that he had broken a pact with National Rally.
Is France tilting to the right?
Following this upheaval, on Wednesday night, one party’s leader was divorced from the party after the party announced an alliance, and another leader was left with only one European lawmaker after the party failed to follow suit.
The June 30 legislative election is less than two weeks away, but it’s unclear how much this right-wing infighting will impact the outcome nationally.
It works wonders for Le Pen and Bardella’s National Rally, for sure. They are the undisputed right-wing political force and have avoided controversy thus far.
Even while some in his traditionalist party disagree with Ciotti’s endorsement, it nevertheless shows how far National Rally has advanced into mainstream politics.
For the most part, at least among French voters, National Rally’s transition from radicals to ballot-box favorites appears to be complete.
That might be the finest victory yet for Le Pen’s party, while the French right implodes all around them.
