Intervention by Vera Polycarpou, Head of International Relations and European Policy of AKEL and member of the Central Committee of the Party

 

‘Astra’ Radio Station, Monday 8 July 2024

Astra: What was at stake in yesterday’s elections in France and how do you see the day after?

VP: The stake was the same from the moment Macron called the snap elections – to block the road of the far right to power. A far-right that is growing not only in France and is on an upward trajectory, but also across the European Union as a whole. So it was a stake that was very, very challenging and one that still remains. The far right has not been defeated. It has been stopped for the moment in France.

I’d like to say a few things that perhaps are not always clear to people. The first thing is that this is not the first time that the far right has reached this point. This far right that we see today in France is the descendant of the far right of [the collaborator] Philippe Petain and the Vichy regime. That is to say, the regime that handed France over to the Nazi occupiers when the Second World War began.

Back then Philippe Petain had dissolved the French National Assembly and banned the French Communist Party. The country was effectively handed over to fascism. We had the struggle of the great anti-fascist resistance in France, but these descendants of Philippe Petain are here today where we see them. They have mutated in numerous ways under different disguises, but the essence remains the same.

Astra: Is that why this electoral formation is called the “New Popular Front”? Do you mean that the Front has some historical roots?

VP: In France the Popular Front dates back to 1936. A period also when in Spain there was a battle and a war being waged against Franco and fascism that later developed into a dictatorship that lasted until 1976. This is also where the slogan “NO PASARAN – THEY SHALL NOT PASS!” comes from.

In 1936 this Popular Front was founded in France. The main driving forces of the Front were the French Communist Party and the French Socialist Party, together with various trade union organisations and movements. Its main features were the projection of great social demands, subsequently the liberation and in 1946 it achieved demands such as social insurance and various other gains which are very precious and embedded in the souls of the French working people.

These gains have been attacked for several years now by various governments, in the main by the Macron government. That is precisely why we have seen all those mass demonstrations by the French people seeking to defend these gains and achievements, which of course did not come about of their own accord but were won through struggle.

Today the Front is called the “New Popular Front” and brings to the fore exactly the same great social demands and wants to achieve the same social changes. For example, to abandon this “reform” of the pension system that they want to impose by raising the retirement age, to defend health, education and public services. This is the essence of the Front. And within the electoral programme of the New Popular Front formed by the four parties (The French Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Ecologists and Unbowed France) and prepared in two days, it is precisely these demands that are defended.

And it is precisely for this reason that people took to the streets both from the realisation of what the far right means and from the great need to defend these gains because it is these neoliberal policies and those of the Macron camp that have driven people into the arms of Le Pen and the far right.

Astra: Do you believe that, based on the events over the last few days, Macron will succeed in breaking up this New Popular Front alliance?

VP: I don’t think so. Because the first attempt was made in the last parliamentary elections with the formation of NUPES (New Popular Unity, Ecological and Social) which were more or less composed of the same parties who subsequently formed the New Popular Front.

Judging from the statements I have heard from the leader of Unbowed France Melenchon and from the leader of the Socialist Party, but also from the statements issued and made by the French Communist Party and the Ecologists, they are very firm on this line because they fully understand that what they have put in their Common Programme and on the basis of which the people supported them and made the Front a leading force in the country.

These things will have to be implemented in practice otherwise people will be disappointed. This won’t be at all easy because the Front does not have a majority in the National Assembly. Cooperations will be needed and so on. The practical implementation of these assertions will need to be set in motion.

Only then will the road to the far right be blocked.