By Kıvanç Özdal
The Rassemblement National received 31.4% of the votes in France in the last European Parliament election, while Macron’s Renaissance party gained only 15.2 percent.
After the results, Macron announced the decision of dissolving of the National Assembly. New elections will be held on June 30.
So French politics is now open to new, and maybe surprising, developments.
We interviewed Jacques Cheminade, chairman of the Solidarité et Progrès (Solidarity and Progress) about his views on the results of the EU, upcoming elections in France and the meaning of the rise of “patriotism” or “nationalism”.
“D-Day” instead of “Jour-J”
What are your thoughts on the results of the European Parliament elections?
Before the European Parliament elections, “D-Day”, the day when the American troops landed in Normandy, was celebrated with the American name. Normally it was called “Jour J” with its French name.
De Gaulle didn’t go to these ceremonies saying that France hadn’t been consulted and that France had been like a doormat. What happened in the celebration this year was an expedition of the alliance between Biden, Zelenskyy, Macron, King Charles of England and Scholz. It’s obscene, it’s completely distorting things. There is a reaction to this, and the reaction is expressed in the far-right vote.
Is the Rassemblement National a real alternative?
The Rassemblement National (RN) had more than twice the number of votes of Macron’s party. But people voted not so much because they like Bardella or Marine Le Pen, but because they considered that all the others have failed or betrayed. People saw, and they voted for that, because they saw the RN as an alternative, I don’t think so, because Marine Le Pen said that their party advocates staying in NATO, the EU and the Euro.
“Option B” for the oligarchy
So, it’s an option B for the oligarchy, even if it’s not perceived that way from the outside. It’s clear that the vote was patriotic, but in the wrong direction. And in countries like Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, where far-right politicians are in power, there has been a fall in the far-right vote. So, there are two things at the same time: A patriotic current and a far-right current, but the two do not overlap. And for us, it’s a question of representing the honest patriotic current in a world that is shifting towards the East and the South.
What is your assessment of President Macron’s call for early elections?
It’s a gamble for Macron. He thinks he is creating the conditions for him to win. The RN is in the process of forming an alliance with traditional conservative forces, the Republicans (Les Républicains), the so-called “heirs of General de Gaulle”. In fact, they are not heirs at all, but they have a certain number of votes.
“Bardella has no real policy”
Macron hopes to appear as the alternative to the RN. However, he won’t succeed because he has a bad reputation as being powerless, completely linked to the Anglo-American powers and to the financial oligarchy. So, it’s possible that the RN, with its new allies on the right, will win and that Bardella will be Prime Minister. In that case, Macron is planning to wear down Bardella, decriminalize him. In fact, Bardella has no real policy, either internationally or nationally. So, we might find ourselves where Macron or some others from his party once again come to a position of power.
Also, Macron is supported by Ursula von der Leyen in Europe, but there are all these rumors that he wants to eventually replace her. I’m not interested in rumors; I’m interested in reality. And the reality is that there is no real alternative. It’s true that the Popular Front was formed on the left, but it doesn’t have a genuine political program. That was simply a formation to resist the National Front in the elections.
And above all, there are people like Glucksmann who represent Anglo-American interests and who are totally in favor of war in Ukraine.
In general, I can say that the chaos prevailing in France is destroying everything positive about the nation of France. Such is especially very dangerous at a time of crisis in the world.
“Melonisation” of France
The Atlantic press in Türkiye and the world presents the rising patriotic wave in Europe as a wave of “far right” or “neo-fascism”. Do you agree with this?
Yes and no. It’s an adaptation to the financial oligarchy, and this adaptation takes several forms. A harder, more identity-based form is taking shape in Europe with Bardella and Marine Le Pen in France, Orban in Hungary and Meloni in Italy. I call what is now happening in France the “Melonisation” of France. It’s less anti-Russian, less anti-China, but it’s still very much part of NATO and remains part of NATO and the European Union. So, it’s not a genuine alternative for France. It is, I repeat, option B for the oligarchy.
In France, there is patriotism that needs to be represented. We, along with others, are trying to represent authentic patriotism. We struggle to give this genuine alternative to life. It’s a bit like the Vatan Party’s struggle in Türkiye.
Marine Le Pen has made statements like “France must leave NATO”. Don’t you think that if the RN comes to power, France will leave NATO?
I don’t think that the RN really wants to leave NATO. Bardella has already stated that. Bardella also applauded Zelenskyy in the Strasbourg Parliament and announced that they would continue the policy of supporting Ukraine.
The AfD boycotted Zelenskyy during his visit to the German parliament.
There was no opposition or protest when Zelenskyy came to speak in the French Parliament. That is very dangerous because Zelenskyy is totally controlled by the US. If France had been involved in the war, it would be a third world war because NATO would be involved since France is a NATO country. So, In France the scale of the danger has not been well understood yet.
The need for a “genuine French patriotism”
What I understand from your explanation so far is that in Europe, the people are getting more patriotic, and they demand a patriotic government, but the politicians they vote for that goal are not real patriots.
The real question before us, which we are going to raise in the coming elections, is to establish a peace policy. We need to stop supplying arms to Ukraine, which results in nothing but the death of more Ukrainians.
On the international plan, we need a reconstruction plan for the world, and this must be organized with the Global South. We should establish peace with the Global South. A genuine French patriotism must work with all the countries of the Global South including members of the BRICS, so France can have a role in preventing a global conflict in that way. Today, France is doing none of that.
What is essential in this context is to get out of the dollar-based financial markets and create an alternative one. And we could achieve in alliance with the whole patriotic world.
Having mentioned all these aspects, I can say that people are patriotic and those who claim to represent them are not. In the times of General de Gaulle, he and the Communists were opposing each other in domestic policy, but they were in agreement in foreign policy. We must return to that.
And my last question: Based on the results of the European Parliament elections, how do you see the future of European foreign policy?
There won’t be an essential change, instead it will remain within the framework of NATO, the EU and the Euro because the majority of the elected representatives in that election is in favor of these. So, there is no good news from the EU elections, but everything can change with the effect of Russia, China, the BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the groups of 77 non-aligned countries in the spirit of Bandung.