The Guardian’s view on France’s political chaos: The gift that keeps on giving for Marine Le Pen and the far right | Editorial

IA play by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1944 No ExitHell is depicted as a closed room in which characters are condemned to fall and exit from all eternity. Since he foolishly called the shot election That handed a divided and divided National Assembly, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, found himself trapped in a modern political version of the same conspiracy.

On Monday morning, Mr. Macron became the third prime minister in just over a year, and the latest to throw in the towel, after just 27 days on the job. Hours after unveiling his ministerial team, Sébastien Lecornu stood up after a backlash from centre-right allies, who objected to a number of François Bayrou’s previous administration. By Monday evening, Mr. Macron had convinced Mr. Lecornu to hold a final round of negotiations to try to resolve the crisis. If he fails, the president has hinted that the next step will be a second dissolution of Parliament and new legislative elections.

Such astonishing chaos and dysfunction is bringing mainstream French politics into disrepair, at a time when Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally largely enjoys Driving At the ballot boxes. For this unfortunate situation, Mr. Macron bears severe responsibility. His centrist alliance lost Its outright majority in the 2022 parliamentary elections was then defeated by a left-wing coalition in the SNAP poll called last year. But he plowed on as if nothing had changed, pressuring successive prime ministers to propose unpopular austerity budgets without a mandate.

Continuing this doomed approach, as bond markets increasingly sour goal The second largest economy in the European Union was irresponsible. Repeatedly, Mr Macron has called on key politicians to compromise and reach a consensus in the national interest. They failed to do so. But the president himself was the richest, and refused to make any meaningful concessions. In particular, Mr Macron failed to acknowledge that the public mood (and parliamentary arithmetic) would not allow deficit reduction measures that come primarily at the expense of public services and are less affected. Calls from left to 2% annual Wealth tax The super-rich families, for example, were resolutely ignored.

It also risks the vertigo of economic instability, taking a hit Antiquities For the rest of Europe, France needs to find a way out of the impasse. Even if Mr. LeCornu manages to patch things up with the center-right Les Républicins party, the resulting minority government is certain to meet an equally fateful fate. New legislative elections, given opinion polls, would run the risk of handing power in Parliament to the National Rally, or producing further gridlock. But the current political paralysis and decline is a gift for Ms. Le Pen before the presidential elections in 2027.

For Mr. Macron, who arrived at the élysée with the stated intention of preventing another difficulty on the far right, the afterglow of his second term has turned into political humiliation. Outside, he played central and Rate A role in shaping Europe’s response to a new era of geopolitical instability. But domestically, a combination of arrogance and economic rigidity left him isolated and irrevocably banned. He is unlikely to resign himself, and Mr. LeCorneau may succeed in keeping the show on the road for a while. But France deserves better from its president and its political class.

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