The Latest Breaking News from Les Républicains

When it was announced that Michel Barnier was France’s new prime minister, commentators joked that he was better known to the British public than to the French. There’s more than a grain of truth in this.

For Frédéric Sawicki, professor of political science at the University of Paris 1, the appointment of Michel Barnier as prime minister on 6 September signals the materialisation of an alliance between Emmanuel Macron and Les Républicains, but also the strong position of the far-right National Rally party. This article was…

After months of dithering, the French president’s choice of prime minister leaves him more vulnerable than ever, says Paul Taylor of the European Policy Centre

French President Emmanuel Macron is continuing his search for a new prime minister, almost two months after inconclusive snap elections. He’s meeting with two of his predecessors, François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as two other senior French politicians who are both tipped as candidates to be the next…

There were scenes of joy at the Place de la République in Paris when many thousands of people who were gathered to wait for the result of recent French election discovered that Marine Le Pen’s far-right coalition has not succeeded in taking control of the national assembly. Many outside the…

In European politics, one specific strategy for dealing with a political party that appears a danger to the wider democratic system is to look to isolate it to make sure it does not advance politically. This process is known as “cordon sanitaire”. It’s a strategy that has been applied at…

France's New Popular Front has won the largest number of seats in the final round of snap parliamentary elections, leaving behind the remnants of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist camp and the far-right National Rally trailing in third place. It’s a staggering result for a closely fought election that has left…

The French election results are everything except what predictions had forecast.

French tycoon Vincent Bolloré has put his sprawling media empire at the service of the country’s nationalist right, precipitating a rightward shift in French politics. Pulling strings from behind the scenes in the manner of Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire corporate raider has orchestrated an alliance of bitter right-wing rivals in…

For the first time since its founding, France’s anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party has clawed its way to within arm’s reach of governing. The far-right party’s rise has fundamentally changed France’s immigration debate, dragging besieged President Emmanuel Macron's once-liberal coalition far to the right while bringing together a bloc of…

Emmanuel Macron’s gamble has set off a political comedy of errors that has almost put BoJo and Trump in a less-incompetent light