This needn’t be France’s Brexit moment, says its business envoy
Pascal Cagni explains why foreign investors should not panic
THE EUROPEAN Parliament elections and the first round of the snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron in response have left no doubt that extreme political parties are in the ascendancy in France. The hard-right National Rally (RN), which is in pole position after the first round, with 33% of the vote, promotes “national preference” for French citizens in housing, jobs and benefits, and for French companies in procurement. The extremes of French politics—including parts of the left-wing New Popular Front alliance that came second in the first round, with 28%—peddle a Eurosceptic agenda. Given such risks to France’s central role in the EU, some are even asking whether the country is sliding towards a “Frexit”.
Explore more
More from By Invitation
Kamala Harris must define herself before Donald Trump does it for her
High on her list should be wooing older, less-educated white women, says Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster
Indermit Gill on what China and India must do to join the rich club
First invest, then infuse foreign technology and then innovate, says the World Bank’s chief economist
Use incentives, not brute force, on the cartels, says a political scientist
Benjamin Lessing reckons they can be peacefully coerced into reducing violence
Bangladesh has achieved its second liberation, says Muhammad Yunus
The interim government’s new leader argues for releasing political prisoners and holding a free election
Margaret Hodge’s lessons from east London on countering the far right
Mainstream parties must win back white working-class voters by focusing on local issues, says the former Labour MP
The real winner of Venezuela’s election urges the regime to face facts
A peaceful transfer of power is still possible, says Edmundo González