Mauricio Mejia

The Socialists came to power in May 1981. Stubborn François Mitterrand –whose very distant past made him a member of right-wing and far-right political groups before the outbreak of the Second World War, – led a left-wing coalition that confirmed his long-term political vocation: even before the end of the conflict, François Maurice had played all the cards of the structure of all colors to achieve power in A frantic France that seemed never to stand still.

As now, when the far right – 40 years after its appearance in the European elections – the National Group is threatening to occupy a very high post (Prime Minister). in the city government Emmanuel Macron dissolves Assembly in a political act that he and his rivals called absurd, since the call for legislative elections made it clear that he did not have the support of the majority of French people at a critical moment for European democracies, which are now ruled by the far right in Italy and are under strong pressure from ultra-conservatives in Belgium, Hungary and, worst of all, Germany.

Mitterrand (1916-1996) fought – even before the formation V French Republic (1958)– to all governments of all ideologies, from conservatives to Chal de Gaulle to the right of Valery Giscard d’Estaing. to whom he lost the election in two rounds in 1974.

In April 1981, the tireless Francois lost the first round Giscard d’Estaing (25% of the votes against 28% for the opponent), but in the second round, already with Jacques Chirac, third place in the primaries is beyond competition, Mitterrand became President of France. ahead of Valery by three points: 51% against 48%.

Having come to power, the new president dissolved National Assembly to strengthen his legitimacy. A goal that was achieved. But three years later, the electorate gave him his first advantage on the ballot. Mitterrand carried out a series of economic and social reforms, including wage increases, privatization of the state apparatus and decriminalization of homosexuality (1982)but in the first European elections of his administration in 1984 the old ultra-conservative force led by Jean Marie Le Pen thwarted Francois’ projectwho soon became accustomed to the use of the new verb in French politics: Cohabitation.

Le Pen, who was twelve years younger than Mitterrand, became the youngest member of parliament in Paris history in 1956, when he was 28, and later became a member of the Assembly “for the defense of the entire French people.” In 1972, when his daughter Marine was four, he founded the company National Front of French Unityan ultra-party whose political essence, among other things, was hatred to the presence of non-European migrants throughout FranceIn addition, several members were accused of being fascists and collaborating with pro-Nazi organizations close to Benito Mussolini. Le Pen has always described – although her speech has become radicalised – The Front as a centre-right party.

Jean Marie took first place in The European Parliament in 1984, ten years after his first appearance in the French presidential elections, which he would return to in 1988, 1995 and 2002; in the latter case, it would lead to a second round before the conservatives Jacques Chirac –former mayor of Paris and first minister for cohabitation, who presented an unsuccessful Paris’s Olympic Candidate and the President of France after Mitterrand.

The weakness of the left-wing candidate Lionel Jospin meant that Le Pen received 16% of the vote in the first round that year. Paradoxically, in the second round, even anti-Chirac groups joined the campaign against Chirac. Le Pen – as it happens today in the second attack on her daughter Marine on July 7. On May 5, Chirac easily won the presidential election, gaining more than 80% of the vote. Le Pen forgot about politics in 2007, when The National Front failed to obtain more than 10% of the votes in the presidential elections.

Intimidation of the far right in France appears to have abated in recent years. But the economic crisis caused by Lehman Brothers, which had a full impact on the European economy, allowed the ultra-discourse to reappear in all campaigns for the European Parliament and local campaigns throughout the eurozone: Xenophobic and anti-liberal discourse has intensified and anti-global narratives have become radical; Europe was shaken by the anti-social narrative that was emphasized the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, a process that began in 2016.

In 2011, Marien Le Pen managed to lead the National Front, leading it to third place in the presidential elections the following year, losing to François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. The winner, Hollande, will be responsible for signing the presidential candidacy. Paris in front of the International Olympic Committee headquarters in 2024.Macron, who already became president in 2017, will be responsible for celebrating the nomination.

He received 17% of the votes. Marine Le Pen on that day in 2012. A year later, he changed the name of the National Front to the National Rally, a move that today has left France, which has arguably had a far-right prime minister since the end of World War II, on edge. In 2002, Marinet ran to the second round of the presidential election against Macron, to whom he lost by just 17 points. For the first time since the double duel between Mitterrand and Giscard-Esteigne (1974–1981), the same candidates stood in successive presidential elections.

Yesterday, Tuesday, before the second round Legislative elections on July 7a political cordon was created for confrontation The National Group, which on Sunday, June 30, received 33% of the votes cast.. 218 of the 311 MPs have withdrawn from the second round to halt the advance of Marin’s party, whose possible victory next weekend would see him win relative majority in the Assembly (there are concerns that it may be absolute: 289 out of 577 seats) and forced cohabitation (in the style of Mitterrand and Chirac) between Macron and an opposition prime minister, this time from the far right: Joan Bardella, leader of the National Group.

And all this just 19 days before the start of the third Olympic Games in Paris.