Macron warns of ‘civil battle’ if hard-left or hard-right win election

Emmanuel Macron warned France faces ‘civil war’ if either the hard-right or hard-left emerges victorious from upcoming parliamentary elections in a new alarming interview. 

The French President, 46, denounced both the hard-right National Rally party and the hard-left France Unbowed party during a discussion on the ‘Generation Do It Yourself’ podcast, saying that the policies of both parties would ultimately pull French society apart. 

He said the manifesto of arch-rival Marine Le Pen‘s RN party – which pollsters have in first place – and their solutions to deal with fears over crime and immigration were based upon ‘stigmatisation or division’.

‘I think that the solutions given by the far-right are out of the question, because it is categorising people in terms of their religion or origins and that is why it leads to division and to civil war,’ he said.

Macron made the same criticism of the France Unbowed (LFI) extreme left-wing party, which forms part of the New Popular Front coalition.

‘But that one as well, there is a civil war behind that because you are solely categorising people in terms of their religious outlook or the community they belong to.

‘In a way, this is a means of justifying isolating them from the broader national community and in this case, you would have a civil war with those who do not share those same values,’ said Macron.

Asked to respond to Macron’s civil war comments, Marine Le Pen’s protégé Jordan Bardella – who is campaigning to become Prime Minister should the RN succeed in the upcoming elections – replied to M6 TV: ‘A President should not say that.

‘I want to re-establish security for all French people.’ 

Macron’s warning came as Bardella unveiled his party’s manifesto at a press conference yesterday afternoon, revealing that he is planning a Margaret Thatcher-style campaign to reclaim billions of euros paid by France into EU coffers.

The 28-year-old declared the RN would demand a huge cut of between €2 billion and €3 billion euros in France’s contributions to Europe – part of a wider plan to implement what he called ‘realistic, credible’ economic policies as France battles spiralling national debt. 

The move echoes that of Thatcher, who at a 1979 summit in Dublin told the EEC – the precursor to the EU – ‘we are asking for a very large amount of our own money back!’ as she baulked at the quantity of funds contributed by Britain.

Meanwhile, in a telling sign of the RN’s hardline policies on migration, which it sees as a ‘major emergency’, Bardella said he would seek to abolish France’s long-held ‘droit du sol’ law that affords anyone born on French soil a birthright to citizenship.

‘In three words: we are ready,’ Bardella told a news conference, urging voters to give the eurosceptic party an outright majority to allow it to implement its anti-immigration, law-and-order programme.

‘Seven long years of Macronism has weakened the country,’ he said, vowing to boost purchasing power, ‘restore order’ and change the law to make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of crimes, alongside revoking the birthright to citizenship. 

Bardella added that the RN would focus on ‘realistic’ measures to curb inflation, primarily by cutting energy taxes.

He also promised a disciplinary ‘big bang’ in schools, including a ban on mobile phones and trialling the introduction of school uniforms, a proposal previously put forward by Macron.

Meanwhile, the hard-left France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon also slammed Macron’s comments in an interview with France 2 TV, saying it was Macron’s own policies that were bringing about civil unrest, such as in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia.

French politics were plunged into turmoil by Macron calling snap legislative elections after his centrist party was trounced by the far-right National Rally (RN) in a European vote earlier this month.

Weekend polls suggested the RN would win 35-36 percent in the first round on Sunday, ahead of a left-wing alliance on 27-29.5 percent and Macron’s centrists in third on 19.5-22 percent.

A second round of voting will follow on July 7 in constituencies where no candidate takes more than 50 percent in the first round.

Macron hoped to trip up his opponents and catch them unprepared by calling an election on such short notice. 

But analysts have warned the move could backfire if the deeply unpopular president is forced to share power with a prime minister from an opposing party.

The RN’s Marine Le Pen, who is bidding to succeed Macron as president in 2027, has called on him to step aside if he loses control of parliament.

Macron previously insisted he will not resign before the end of his second term, but has vowed to heed voters’ concerns.

Speaking on Monday, Macron once again defended his choice to call snap elections.

‘It’s very hard. I’m aware of it, and a lot of people are angry with me,’ he said on the podcast.

‘But I did it because there is nothing greater and fairer in a democracy than trust in the people.’