By Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams
Progressive International on Wednesday issued a scathing critique of French President Emmanuel Macron and backed calls for protests next month over his rejection of a leftist alliance’s candidate for prime minister following recent snap elections.
Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), a coalition of left-of-center parties formed to counter the far-right in this summer’s elections, won the most seats, beating out Macron’s centrist alliance and Marine Le Pen’s right-wing Rassemblement National (RN), but lacks an absolute majority.
Macron has since refused to appoint NFP’s chosen candidate, Lucie Castets, as prime minister, which the Progressive International Observatory blasted as “blatant disregard of the election results and the precedent established throughout the French Fifth Republic.”
Progressive International launched in May 2020 to unite, organize, and mobilize progressive groups and individuals around the world, and since then it has built a global Observatory “with the legal expertise, data science, and parliamentary power to track the attacks on our democratic institutions and provide a real-time defense against them.”
France’s snap elections—which Macron called after his party performed poorly in European elections—were held on June 30 and July 7. Since then, the Observatory noted, “a caretaker government has led France, with Macron citing the Paris Olympics as a reason to delay the appointment.”
While the Olympic Games have concluded, Macron opened the Paralympic Games in the French capital Wednesday evening. They are set to run through September 8.
Macron—defending his refusal to appoint Castets—has argued that because centrist and right-wing parties would block any actions by NFP, “the institutional stability of our country therefore requires us not to choose this option.” His critics in France are now planning “a large demonstration against Macron’s coup on September 7.”
Echoing the French critics, the Observatory declared Wednesday that “Macron’s move is a direct challenge to the democratic will of the people and an affront to the foundational tenets of political pluralism.”
“This action is not merely a political maneuver to hold onto power, but a direct attack on French progressive forces,” the Observatory said, pointing to pledges by RN and centrist leaders to move a no-confidence motion against any prime minister nominated from the NFP.
The Observatory also highlighted Macron’s “sinister divide-and-rule move” to isolate the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI), led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, by appealing to other NFP parties “to break the political paralysis.”
The other parties that make up NFP have rebuffed the French president and, according toFrance 24, “Mélenchon even threatened to start impeachment proceedings against Macron.”
Progressive International’s Observatory emphasized that “democracy thrives on the diversity of ideas and the peaceful transition of power. The attempt to stifle political competition and subvert the democratic process is a direct assault on these core values.”
The Observatory concluded with a “call to democratic forces worldwide to oppose Emmanuel Macron’s authoritarian efforts to repress the will of the French people—and join the call for the September 7 mobilization to defend it.”
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Jessica Corbett
Jessica Corbett is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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