How a far-right push in Europe triggered a shock election in France
The far right has made significant gains in the European parliament elections. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has responded with a high-stakes gamble
As the results of the EU elections came in, the shocks kept coming. In France, Germany and Italy the far right made serious gains. Just under a quarter of MEPs in the European parliament will be drawn from these parties. But outside the biggest countries the picture was more complicated – in some places, the centre parties held their ground, in others, the left did well.
The biggest fallout has been in France. Macron saw the surge in the far-right votes as a direct challenge to his rule and his response was to call snap elections for the French parliament. Why has he taken such a huge gamble and what could all this mean for France – and the direction of Europe?
![A person holds a flyer that reads ‘La France revient !’ (France is back!) featuring JOrdan Bardella and Marine Le Pen of the National Rally party.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a4e8943bf6142de16def924a2a8f16b6fe142250/0_228_4000_2401/master/4000.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e4e21c9e5a624117cada5c2e0b2b0e3f)
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