Macron Says Snap Parliamentary Elections Caused More ‘Issues Than Solutions’

French President Emmanuel Macron at the Bangladesh prime minister's office in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sept. 11, 2023. Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron said his decision to call early parliamentary elections in June 2024 had created more instability than peace.

Last June, Macron dissolved the French National Assembly and called for a snap election after the right-wing National Rally party made gains in the European Union parliamentary elections.

However, it was a gamble that backfired when voters delivered a hung parliament, which has pulled Macron in multiple directions since.

‘Moment of Clarification’

In a televised address ahead of New Year’s celebrations, Macron said: “I have to recognize tonight that the dissolution has, for the moment, brought more divisions to the Assembly than solutions for French people.

“I fully acknowledge that.”

He justified the move, saying the country needed a “moment of clarification” to address the rise of National Rally in European elections.

Macron has been caught between a left-wing coalition that includes his own Renaissance party, La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, the Ecologists, and the French Communist Party and the National Rally.

On Dec. 5, 2024, French lawmakers from all sides of the political spectrum voted to remove Macron’s pick for the powerful post of prime minister, conservative politician and former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, in a no-confidence motion.

Centrist politician Francois Bayrou was announced as his successor, although he will have to navigate the uncertainty around the deeply divided parliament, which is making it increasingly difficult for the government to pass the 2025 budget.

The country’s debt is projected to soar to more than 3 trillion euros ($3.17 trillion) by 2025, with public debt hovering at roughly 110 percent of gross domestic product.

Macron also said the EU should stop being naive when it comes to international trade, as the bloc faces threats of tariffs by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

“We must say no to trade rules enacted by others and that we are the only ones to still comply with, say no to everything that makes us more dependent on others, without tradeoffs and without preparing the future,” he said.

High Distrust

According to a poll by French market research and polling institute Elabe in December 2024, confidence in the president is at its lowest level.

It shows that, for the second consecutive month, only 21 percent of French citizens surveyed by Elabe for the major French business-oriented newspaper Les Echos had confidence in the president of the republic to “effectively address the challenges facing the country.” This was the lowest level recorded by Elabe since Macron’s first election in May 2017.

Elabe stated that distrust remains particularly high, with 72 percent of respondents saying they do not trust him.

Macron has vowed to remain in the Elysee Palace for the duration of his term, which runs until mid-2027. Before then, he cannot be ousted by Parliament, although opposition on both his left and right flanks have called for his resignation.

Marine Le Pen said in her own New Year’s message on Dec. 31, 2024, on social media platform X that “the belated regrets or token expressions of concern from a definitively discredited head of state will change nothing.”

President of the La France Insoumise group Mathilde Panot said on X: “2025 will be a great year.

“The year when we will succeed in getting rid of this arrogant and authoritarian President.”

EU’s 2 Largest Economies

Frank Furedi, executive director of MCC Brussels, previously told The Epoch Times that France’s deeply divisive political landscape meant that the “polarization of France” could intensify.

He also said that with France and Germany—the EU’s two largest economies—facing significant political crises and “living on borrowed money,” the EU’s weaknesses were being exposed.

Germany’s ruling coalition collapsed in November 2024, prompting snap elections scheduled for Feb. 23. A combination of energy crises, political instability, and declining competitiveness also threaten Germany’s long-standing status as the major industrial force of the EU.

“It exposes the internal weakness of this project, because actually, the EU and its project look much stronger than they really are,” Furedi said.

Reuters contributed to this report.