Berlin must find way to work with far-right French government, chancellor hopeful says

4 months ago 12

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz, the favourite to become chancellor next year, said his government would collaborate with a French cabinet led by the far-right Rassemblement national, which might materialise after this week’s French elections, taking heart from the RN’s harsh stance on the German AfD.

The far-right Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen received the most votes in the first round of snap elections for the French parliament last Sunday, which could force liberal President Emmanuel Macron to name an RN prime minister, if it performs well in the second round on 7 July.

In that case, it could find its German counterpart in Merz, the leader of the German centre-right CDU, which is currently ahead in polls. Merz is the frontrunner to represent his party in next year’s national elections.

While noting that collaboration will be harder, Merz told reporters on Wednesday (3 July) he would try to work with a far-right-led government in Paris.

“It remains important that we always extend a hand to Paris and always make offers, regardless of the government.”

While there are concerns that a far-right cabinet in France could paralyse the EU’s Franco-German engine, Merz showed cautious optimism that relations could be sustained, taking heart from the fact that the Le Pen-led ID group in the European Parliament had expelled the German far-right AfD party.

Asked about the future of Franco-German relations with the RN in power, he said:

“If the ID Group had not kicked out the AfD, then I would have answered your question differently. In light of Ms Le Pen’s decision to kick the German AfD MEPs out (…), it seems pretty clear to me that they draw a demarcation line.”

“That will possibly make cooperation between Germany and France a little easier.”

Following numerous AfD scandals ahead of the EU election, including accusations of ties to Russia and China, Le Pen successfully pushed for the party to be removed from the joint Identity and Democracy group.

Merz’s comments came after his party showed signs of more willingness to work with the far right, suggesting before the EU election that the cordon sanitaire around Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right Fratelli d’Italia was outdated.

By contrast, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD/S&D) had chosen to emphasise his concerns about the French elections, saying hoped for Le Pen’s defeat.

ECJ is a red line

The CDU has also identified red lines, however.

If a new French government ignored the supremacy of European institutions like the European Court of Justice, relations could hit a dead end, the party’s lead MP on EU affairs, Gunther Krichbaum, told Euractiv.

Furthermore, Merz said that attempts by the CDU’s French conservative sister party, Les Républicains (EPP), to formally work together with the RN at a parliamentary level, were “regrettable”.

He noted that governments still had to find a modus operandi, saying “[isolation of individual governments] is obviously not sustainable in the long term.”

[Edited by Aurélie Pugnet/Zoran Radosavljevic]