Alarm bells of division are sounding already on Left and Right
IN HIS ambitious victory speech under the Eiffel Tower, re-elected president Emmanuel Macron pledged that “nobody in France will be left by the wayside”.
As his perfectly choreographed speech was broadcast across the world, riot police fought running battles with protesters. There was even a double-shooting on the Pont Neuf, as two unidentified people in a speeding car were killed and a third wounded by officers who said they were under attack.
Magistrates are investigating the so-far unexplained incident — one that is typical of the violence and dissent that characterised the first five years of the Macron administration.
The fiercely pro-EU head of state has acknowledged that “our country is full of doubts and divisions, so we will need to be strong”. Millions voted for his far-Right rival Marine Le Pen, as in 2017 when Macron first came to power, and the power of her party, the National Rally, is likely to increase in the months and years ahead.
France Unbowed, the hard-Left movement run by former Trotskyite revolutionary Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also attracted more than seven million votes in the first round of the presidential election.
Abroad, Mr Macron is facing ongoing discord with neighbours over his often aggressive policy stances.
He has described Brexit as “a crime” and will continue to fight for better rights for French fishermen in the English Channel, and for a solution to the migrant boats that suits his own country.
Divisions that have persisted in France for decades get larger with every election, and it might be just a matter of time before so-called centrists like Mr Macron find themselves replaced by politicians from the extremes.