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Video recap: State of Romania
11 December 2024
On 8 July 2024, Visegrad Insight hosted ambassadors, representatives from the embassies and journalists to discuss the Central European perspective on the French election results following the second round.
The distinguished participants in the Visegrad Insight Breakfast were joined by two esteemed experts who provided valuable insights on the French election results: Helen Bienvenu, who served as a correspondent for Le Monde in Hungary from 2011 to 2019 and currently holds the position of correspondent for Le Monde in Poland, and Marcin Zaborowski, Policy Director at the Future of Security Programme at GLOBSEC and a Senior Fellow at Visegrad Insight.
The results after the second round of parliamentary elections in France surprised everyone. The left-wing coalition New Popular Front won 182 seats in the Parliament, Macron’s centrist alliance won 163 seats and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and its allies won only 143 seats.
After this election, Macron’s position has weakened. I suspect that there will be no stability in France in the coming years. Let’s also observe a similar situation in Germany, where we see that the coalition is falling apart.
During the event, we talked about the potential impact of the new government on European and foreign policy. Since the change of the government in Poland, activities have been intensified to strengthen cooperation between Poland, Germany and France. How will the election results in France affect this?
We must admit that the golden era of the Weimar Triangle is gone. PiS did not strive for good relations with France and Germany; the circumstances were different then. Now, we have to accept that cooperation between France, Poland and Germany will not be as straightforward as we wish it be.
The driving factors behind the French voters’ decisions were also examined. Voter turnout reached a record high of 66.63% in the second round. Notably, the elections in France focused primarily on domestic issues, with minimal attention given to the war in Ukraine during the campaign.
See the photostory below:
