France’s Macron shifts focus to elections

Significance

Macron hopes Attal can rescue his centrist alliance from a defeat by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) in the EU elections in June. In the longer term, he has anointed Attal as his potential successor as the leader of the pro-European French centre-ground in 2027.

Impacts

• Defeat in June’s European elections would weaken Macron’s capacity to shape policy at the EU level.
• Macron’s shift to the right increases the chance that leftist voters will abstain in a second-round run-off in the next president election.
• Macron’s focus on defeating the far right will see environmental issues relegated in his legislative agenda.