France’s Republican party faces extinction
Tilting right did it no favours
TWENTY YEARS ago an ambitious politician led the French centre-right into European Parliament elections and was humiliated. The 12.8% secured by the young Nicolas Sarkozy was so dismal that the party dispatched him into the political wilderness (he later staged a comeback and won the presidency). Today, however, the party has done even worse than it did in 1999. After scoring a pitiful 8.5% in May’s European elections, the very survival of the once-mighty Republicans is in the balance.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Into the wilderness”
Europe June 29th 2019
From the June 29th 2019 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
The maths of Europe’s military black hole
It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk
Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare
A rise in antisemitism puts Europe’s liberal values to the test
The return of Europe’s oldest scourge
Once dominant, Germany is now desperate
As an election looms its business model is breaking down