French President Emmanuel Macron said in a podcast broadcast on Monday that the coalition between the far-right National Rally (RN) and the left-wing New Popular Front, the two parties currently front-runners in parliamentary elections, risks bringing a “civil war” to France.
Speaking on the podcast “Generation Do It Yourself”, Macron said the RN party’s manifesto, which came in first in the election polls, and its solutions to address fears about crime and immigration were based on “stigma and division”.
“I think the solution offered by the far right is out of the question because it categorizes people by religion and by origin, which leads to division and civil war,” he said in the podcast.
Macron made similar criticisms of the far-left party, Remain France (LFI), which is part of the New Popular Front coalition.
“But even then there is a civil war behind it, because you are categorising people solely on the basis of their religious views or the community they belong to. In a way this is a way of justifying their isolation from the whole national society, which in this case will result in a civil war with people who do not share the same values,” Macron said.
Asked for his reaction to Macron’s civil war comments, RN President Jordan Bardella – who is seen as a potential candidate to become prime minister if his party wins the most votes in the election – told M6 television: “The president should not say such things.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Unbowed France party, also slammed Macron’s comments in an interview with France 2 television, saying it was Macron’s own policies that were causing civil unrest. French President Emmanuel Macron said in a podcast broadcast on Monday that the two parties fronting the parliamentary elections, the far-right Rally National (RN) and the left-wing New Popular Front coalition, risk bringing a “civil war” to France.
Speaking on the podcast “Generation Do It Yourself”, Macron said the RN party’s manifesto, which came in first in the election polls, and its solutions to address fears about crime and immigration were based on “stigma and division”.
“I think the solution offered by the far right is out of the question because it categorizes people by religion and by origin, which leads to division and civil war,” he said in the podcast.
Macron made similar criticisms of the far-left party, Remain France (LFI), which is part of the New Popular Front coalition.
“But even then there is a civil war behind it, because you are categorising people solely on the basis of their religious views or the community they belong to. In a way this is a way of justifying their isolation from the whole national society, which in this case will result in a civil war with people who do not share the same values,” Macron said.
Asked for his reaction to Macron’s civil war comments, RN President Jordan Bardella – who is seen as a potential candidate to become prime minister if his party wins the most votes in the election – told M6 television: “The president should not say such things.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Unyielding France party, also slammed Macron’s comments in an interview with France 2 television, saying it was Macron’s own policies that were causing civil unrest in places such as the French overseas territory of New Caledonia.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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