Jacobin Radio

At the beginning of June this year, Emmanuel Macron called a snap election for the French National Assembly. The move came after the far-right party of Marine Le Pen, the National Rally, topped the poll in France’s European election. The party was widely expected to repeat that performance in the national election and form a government for the first time. But a left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front, thwarted the ambitions of Le Pen and her ally Jordan Bardella.The New Popular Front was the largest single bloc in the National Assembly and should have been given the opportunity to nominate a prime minister. However, Macron was determined to stop that from happening. After stalling throughout the summer, Macron finally appointed a new prime minister last week. He chose Michel Barnier, a conservative politician whose party came fourth in the election.Macron appointed Barnier with the approval of Marine Le Pen. As Jacobin’s Europe editor David Broder put it, Barnier may be in office, but Le Pen will hold power