This needn’t be France’s Brexit moment, says its business envoy

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”.