Macron: imperative to avoid any “French disorder” with strong parliament majority

PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron said it was imperative that this month’s parliamentary election resulted in a “strong and clear” majority for his political bloc to be able to implement pro-business reforms and avoid a “French disorder.”

Macron said any breakthrough for far-left and far-right parties in the elections on June 12 and June 19, would add further uncertainty to a political backdrop marked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and concerns over rising inflation.

“Nothing would be more dangerous than adding a French disorder on top of a world disorder, as proposed by extremists,” said Macron on Thursday, during a visit to the southern French region of Tarn.

Macron used his trip to Tarn to warn against the challenges faced to his ‘Ensemble’ centrist bloc from both the far-left party, which has allied with the traditional left-wing Socialist Party, and from far-right parties such as Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and Eric Zemmour’s ‘Reconquest’ group.

Two polls showed earlier this week that Macron’s centrist camp was not guaranteed to win an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections.

The left-wing ‘Nupes’ coalition led by hard-left veteran Jean-Luc Melenchon is seen second in polls, but the conservative Les Republicains could end up being kingmakers, if Macron’s Ensemble alliance falls short of an absolute majority.

Failure to get an absolute majority would mark a major setback for Macron. It would force him to broaden his alliance, which in turn could complicate policy decisions.

Macron was re-elected as French President in April but he also needs a majority in the lower house of parliament to implement reforms aimed at strengthening the economy, such as proposed changes to pensions and cutting taxes.

A minority cabinet or coalition government would be an unusual scenario for modern-day France. The Fifth Republic was designed to avoid unwieldy coalitions.

(Reporting by Sophie Louet and Nicolas Delame;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Dominique Vidalon)