French left join forces

France’s far left parties are close to forming a broad alliance for June parliamentary polls, hoping that a united front can offer stiff opposition in President Emmanuel Macron’s second term.

Greens and Communists have fallen into line behind the hard-left France Unbowed movement and the oncemighty Socialist Party (PS) is expected to follow.

“The different parts of the left are not as irreconcilable as all that,” PS negotiator Pierre Jouvet said, adding that the talks were “a few steps from a historic agreement”.