Valdai Club

On May 7, 2018, Emmanuel Macron celebrated the first anniversary of his election. Macron appeared as a “default president,” having not received a specific mandate from voters. He assured himself that he is invested with a particular mandate of reforming France.

President Macron’s party, «always winning» La Republique en Marche (LREM), lost  Sunday’s senatorial elections in France after recent electoral successes. Former president François Hollande disappointed the left part of the electorate, Emmanuel Macron is disappointing people both on the left and on the right.

It is obvious that democracy is ill in France. The increasing transfer of competences to the European Union and its bureaucracy, a movement, which the newly elected President wants to amplify, is part of this crisis of representative democracy in France, writes Valdai Club expert Jacques Sapir.

The first meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron will enable the two sides to compare notes as relations between Russia and the European Union continue to be complicated, the Valdai Club experts believe. It sends a message that Macron is a pragmatist ready to build constructive working relations and help resolve difficulties in the Russia-EU relations.

The post-election France is deeply divided and will not be able to unite under the new President. Whole sections of the population have entered, or are about to enter, into secession, writes Jacques Sapir, Director of studies at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris.

The first round of France’s 2017 presidential election, which took place on Sunday, ended with the victory of the “En Marche!” movement leader Emmanuel Macron and the National Front chairperson Marine Le Pen.

The European Union is currently experiencing a profound crisis that goes beyond the economy and touches on its very identity. And it was the euro that caused this crisis. Intended as the pinnacle of European integration, the single currency paved the way to the EU’s decline.

The last "primary" debate between Manuel Valls and Benoît Hamon confirms the total lack of substance in the program of both candidates. This could lead to the virtual disappearance of the PS, which seems to have learned no lessons whatsoever from the Brexit or the election of Mr. Donald Trump. The left will only rebuild itself by fully assuming the populist turning point and by ceasing to build imaginary barriers between social progress and the idea of nation.

Should we call populist a movement which succeeded? In France before the Revolution in 1789 the main movement was against elites, against privileges, now we would call such a movement populist. But this movement succeeded, and we had the Great French Revolution. We call populist some kind of revolutionary or non-revolutionary movements, which so far did not succeed. If they succeed, they will be no more populist movements.

The campaign for the second round of the right-center primary, where François Fillon and Alain Juppé are opposing each other, takes a bad turn and becomes downright nauseous.