France could be pushed towards “civil war” if the far right or far left win the country’s snap election, president Emmanuel Macron has warned.
Mr Macron said the policies of the far right National Rally (RN) and extreme far left France Unbowed divided and isolated people, which would lead to conflict between different communities ahead of Sunday's first round of voting.
Mr Macron is aligned against both the National Rally and the New Popular Front, a coalition of far- to centre-left parties that includes France Unbowed. It comes as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally was polling at 34 per cent of the vote compared with Mr Macron’s coalition at 22 per cent and the Popular Front at 29 per cent.
“I think that the solutions given by the far right are out of the question, because it is categorising people in terms of their religion or origins and that is why it leads to division and to civil war,” the French president told the Generation Do It Yourself podcast.
Speaking about France Unbowed he added: “But that one as well, there is a civil war behind that because you are solely categorising people in terms of their religious outlook or the community they belong to.” Mr Macron was referring to accusations that France Unbowed positions itself to attract Muslim voters through its critical position on Israel’s war in Gaza.
"When you are fed up with everything, when daily life is hard, you can be tempted by extremes that have quicker solutions. But the solution will never lie in rejecting others," Mr Macron said.
He said the policies of the National Rally, detailed by the party's president, Jordan Bardella, on Monday are "an impoverishment programme, because it's several thousand euros in hidden taxes every day and an impossibility of paying pensions and paying employees well".
Responding to Mr Macron’s comments, Mr Bardella – seen as a possible prime minister if his party wins the most votes in the election – said: “A president should not say that.“
France Unbowed founder Jean-Luc Mélenchon also condemned Macron’s comments in an interview with France 2 TV, saying it was Mr Macron’s own policies that were causing civil unrest.
Mr Macron dissolved the French parliament earlier this month and called for legislative elections to be held on 30 June and 7 July. The move – coming in the wake of Mr Macron’s centrist slate being soundly beaten by National Rally in European parliamentary elections – triggered outrage across the political spectrum. Mr Macron said he could not resign himself to the fact “far right parties are progressing everywhere on the continent” following National Rally’s success in the European vote.
National Rally secured around 31.5 per cent of votes in the European elections, leaving Mr Macron’s centrist grouping in its wake.
Mr Macron’s Renaissance party currently has 169 lower house legislators out of a total of 577. RN has 88. The centrist Ensemble coalition, which includes Mr Macron’s Renaissance party is short of an absolute majority, which is 289.
