Emmanuel Macron dissolves French parliament and calls snap elections

They are more traditional left than far right.

Their economics is very familiar to any left wing party, and even most Christian Democratic parties pre Thatcher and Reagan.

They are a rejection of the idea that the pure unfettered free market is always good and always beneficial.

The people who make up the left and "progressive" movements are people who have disproportionately benefit from the free market.

The working class have disproportionately lost out from it.

Hence parties like these are now the people's movement, the vehicle of the working class.

Terms like left and right are no longer really relevant.

He has a democratic mandate to reform pensions

As I explained above, this is not entirely clear. He was elected thanks to the anti far right vote, not because of support for his proposed reforms. He promised at the time that he would take into account the nature of that vote, but then immediately ignored it.

I agree that support for Ukraine vs Russia is pretty rock solid in France. The reason many people are afraid of "boots on the ground" is because of a fear of escalation to nuclear conflict, not because they've lost interest in Ukraine.

I mean, the disappointing numbers of first round votes for his policies, along with protests in the street, widely supported by polling numbers, are kind of a clue.

Nobody argued that he was re-elected because people actively supported his economic policies. One could argue that he was re-elected despite them.

And of course he increased his share in the second round. That's how the system works.

The poster said he increased his first round share in the second election he participated in. He got 24.01% in the 2017 first round and 27.9% in the 2022 first round.

In other words, after five years of his presidency, he convinced even more people to vote for him than the first time around.

I remember a time when Jean Marie Le Pen was considered a total joke … a relic of the Nazi era and more in tune with Vichy France than modern France …. Marine Le Pen has channelled her father's rhetoric and toned down some of it …. but if I was French I would not vote for her or trust her … surely there are other people to vote for if one was not to vote for Macron ….

Putin's Russia has moved very much to the far right in recent years too … Putin himself yes … but more notable in others …. and in Medvedev in particular ….. the current Russian regime can do business with far right regimes in Europe …. and will support them …. this is a more likely situation than the much touted verge of WW3 …. there are more than 1 way to take over your enemies !! ….

But while Putin/Medvedev/Russia can desire and support far right …. it is also true that not everything can be blamed on Russia …. electorates misguided want them or think they do …. far right populists are well able to market themselves and make promises they cannot keep …. and voter apathy has allowed far right regimes into power all over Europe, as well as the US and Iran …. because while others do not vote the far right voters will very much vote !! ….

It is possible … very likely … we could see far right politicians like Le Pen, Jalili and Trump do very well in upcoming elections and become presidents/prime ministers of their countries …. less likely is a Farage win in the UK but who knows? Anything is now possible !! …

Georgia Meloni has moderated her stance for now …. and Wilders too …. but I cannot help but feel they will be emboldened if more of them come into prominence and then they will begin their real agenda …. the only good thing is they become unpopular the more they gain power and the people turn against them ….

By right though the US people should by now be 100% against Trump …. sadly the whole system over there cannot move past this candidate despite how mad and bad he is …. I only hope that common sense prevails ….

The point you raise here is good one — i.e. the right wingers like Le Pen and Meloni softening over time in contrast to Putin who has consolidated hard power.

The reason for that is that the closer you get to power in a liberal representative democracy the more you are forced to soften. That's because running a democratic country invariably means navigating competing interests and trying to find the right balance. That almost always means that your policies have to be churned through a machine which produces a very diluted version of what you might have sought.

That exists in autocratic systems too, but there's more scope to browbeat and force your wishes upon others — to crush competing interests where you can rather than appease them. In the democratic world, it can make politicians look useless, foolish, deceitful and ineffective — giving room for populists to mock them when it's often the case that the effectiveness of mainstream politics is the victim of the necessary drawbacks of democracy and the Western model of individual rights.

This is why modern populism, of the Trump / Brexit kind etc, has demonstrated that it is at its most potent outside of power — where you can make dramatic promises for radical change. Le Pen has softened because she has gotten closer to power, and if you talk Frexit you have to be seen to walk Frexit, so she has softened on that, and on other things — and likely will have to soften further if and when she gets power

I have no idea, where are you taking this information from. Maybe from Polish propaganda TV.

Where do you see this massive growth?

But you can't imagine how much money they borrowed outside budget, which grand-grand children will pay for…

Also how much public money they used for their private campaigns, increasing salaries, generally stealing them.

I got the information from the world bank.

GDP Per capita in 2015 dollars in Poland in 2014 was $12,024

In 2022 that figure had grown to $17,117

Pretty impressive growth in such a short period of time, a 42% rise.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.KD?end=2022&locations=PL&start=1990&view=chart

Figures for Czechia go from $16,951 in 2014 to $20,237 in 2022 (19% rise)

Figures of Slovakia go from $15,600 in 2014 to $18,878 in 2022 (21% rise)

So they've massively outperformed two of their neighbouring countries in that period

Poland's External Debt per capita is $9,500

Less than Ireland at $63,000

And less than Czechia at €19282 and Slovakia at €15,900

Polands Government Debt per capita is $14,829

Less than Ireland at $47,822

And Less than Slovakia at $16,798 , but more than Czechia which is at $12,208

Again looks like Poland is doing very well.

France lurches to the right

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jun/30/france-election-live-polls-close-marine-le-pen-national-rally-emmanuel-macron

France is a country that still has a low key 18th century attitude to colonialism. The Russians have threatened and damaged their colonial empire in Africa. Macron talking tough on Ukraine was little to do with concern for Ukraine and more about him tapping into his inner Napoleon.

if its true that France exploit their trading relationship with some African countries, they deserve everything coming their way

This is complete nonsense. where is the evidence that Macron has ever had any designs on invading eastern Europe, never mind that he would start with Ukraine of all places?

As for their "colonial empire" in Africa, what you mean is that Russia sent in Wagner troops to exploit African resources. In SOME of those cases France had - at the request of the governments concerned - previously sent in some units of the French army to shore up the existing government from mostly islamist threats, but to protray that as France's "empire" is ridiculous.

he certainly has created a mess technically he didnt have to call an election till 2027

now le pen's party have gone from about 4 million votes 2 years ago to

7 million votes at EU elections 3 weeks ago to

10 million votes in the latest election

its clear the french voters want change and have enough of macron's party

Macron again proving he a a gigantic dope.

His sense of himself is off the scales.

France has kind of shot themselves in the foot. Look into the CFA franc and how they use it to get beneficial trade deals. The reserves of these countries also has to be kept in France. It’s a mess of their own making.

I don't know that much about it, but was listening to a podcast a while ago where it was mentioned (think it was an episode of "The Red Line").

The person speaking (can't remember who I am afraid) said there was a tradeoff involved in the African countries who persist with it. When the world economy is bad, it can stabilise these economies and control inflation. They are more protected from attacks on the currency. So there is a benefit set against a reduction of control over their own monetary policy/economies.

You will note that Ireland itself has never really had complete freedom as regards our own monetary policy. I think it is a preserve and advantage of the largest and richest countries to set it as suits them best, that small countries just never have in reality.

Staying inside or outside association with the Euro, the African countries involved are not that at the moment, will possibly never be that??

France doesn't force any of those countries to do that though? They choose to profit from a perceived stability in the Euro, which they also had when they pegged to the French Franc. Same as when the Irish pound chose to be aligned to the pound sterling - was that "British Napoleonism" or a new British Empire?

Taking a robust posture against those who threaten France’s overseas African empire is a very Napoleonic gesture and should play well to the gallery of French national pride.

I was not suggesting that macron had any territorial ambitions in Ukraine.