Macron's Retreat

It's the beginning of the end

The breakout story from the EU elections was that Emmanuel Macron’s party suffered such an embarrassing defeat, winning just 14.5 percent of the vote, that he will dissolve the French Parliamentary elections on June 30th and July 7th.

Macron’s call for new elections is a shrewd move, given how well Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s Rally National have done in the legislative elections.

In the EU elections, Le Pen’s party was the largest party among every age group, including young voters and seniors who remember and hate her father, the low-educated, the high-educated workers, retirees, and in every region of the country outside of Paris.

Macron is already in a weakened position. He lost his legislative majority in 2022 and has been at the mercy of either the nationalists or socialists to get any priorities done. It was considered very controversial when he worked with Le Pen to push forward a new immigration policy and considered a surrender by more left-wing members of his party and parliament.

Moving forward, a legislative election that was supposed to be held in 2027 has three possible outcomes: