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‘Unprecedented situation’ – Macron loses majority in French parliament

Emmanuel Macron's prime minister will begin work on Monday trying to secure a coalition after his party lost its majority in the French parliamentary elections.

Published: 19 June 2022 20:08 CEST
Updated: 20 June 2022 07:41 CEST
'Unprecedented situation' - Macron loses majority in French parliament
France's President Emmanuel Macron cast his vote during the second stage of French parliamentary elections at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France on June 19, 2022. (Photo by Michel Spingler / POOL / AFP)

Macron’s centrist coalition Ensemble won 245 seats, making them the largest group but falling short of the 289 needed for a majority in the Assemblée nationale.

The left-wing Nupes alliance won 131 seats, while Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally made major gains and won 89 seats.

The final results were confirmed by the Interior Ministry in the early hours of Monday.

Macron’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne made a brief speech as the results came in, saying: “Tonight the situation is unprecedented.

“This situation constitutes a risk for our country, given the challenges that we have to confront,” she said in a televised statement, adding: “We will work from tomorrow to build a working majority.”

The result does not affect Macron’s position as president, but means he will find it difficult to pass laws without a majority in the Assemblée nationale. 

The Macron government has also lost several big names, as ministers including Health minister Brigitte Bourguignon and Environment minister Amélie de Montchalin lost their seats.

READ ALSO What happens next in France as Macron loses majority?

Key ministers in the Macron government admitted that the performance in parliamentary elections was “disappointing”.

The results are “far from what we hoped”, Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said on the TF1 channel, while Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told BFM television: “We’re in first place but it’s a first place that is obviously disappointing.”

Meanwhile the number two of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, hailed her party’s performance as a “tsumani”.

Macron and Borne – who won her seat in Calvados, Normandy – will to attempt to build an alliance over the next few days with centre-right (LR) and independent MPs in order to give him a majority in parliament.

The new left-wing coalition Nupes  – now the second-largest group in parliament – was formed in May after the left suffered a debacle in April presidential elections, and groups the centre-left Parti Socialiste, the hard-left La France Insoumise, Communists and greens.

The left only had 60 seats in the outgoing parliament.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party made huge gains after having only eight seats in the outgoing parliament.   

Turnout was again very low for the second round, where just 46 percent of people voted.

Several big-name Macron supporters have lost their seats, including Health minister Brigitte Bourguignon, Environment minister Amélie de Montchalin, former interior minister Christophe Castaner and Richard Ferrand, president of the Assemblée nationale.

Ministers who lose their seats as MP are not technically obliged to step down from their ministerial role, but Macron has said that they will be expected to do so. 

Damien Abad, the newly-appointed Disabilities minister who had been at the centre of a storm after he was accused of rape by three women, won re-election in Ain, northern France.

Europe minister Clément Beune – a Macron protege who was facing a very tight race in his constituency in Paris – beat the Nupes candidate by just 658 votes. 

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POLITICS

8 things you never knew about Andorra

The tiny statelet nestled in the Pyrenees mountains that mark the border between France and Spain hit the headlines with its new language requirement for residency permits – but what else is there to know about Andorra?

Published: 26 April 2024 15:11 CEST
8 things you never knew about Andorra

This week, Andorra passed a law setting a minimum Catalan language requirement for foreign residents. 

It’s not often the tiny, independent principality in the mountains makes the news – other than, perhaps, when its national football team loses (again) to a rather larger rival in international qualifying competitions.

The national side are due to play Spain in early June, as part of the larger nation’s warm-up for the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany. Here, then, in case you’re watching that match, at Estadio Nuevo Vivero, are a few facts about Andorra that you can astound your fellow football fans with…

Size matters

Small though it is – it has an area of just 468 square kilometres, a little more than half the size of the greater Paris area – there are five smaller states in Europe, 15 smaller countries in the world by area, and 10 smaller by population.

People

Its population in 2023 was 81,588. That’s fewer people than the city of Pau, in southwest France (which is itself the 65th largest town in France, by population).

High-living

The principality’s capital, Andorra la Vella (population c20,000 – about the same population as Dax) is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres above sea level. 

Spoken words

The official language – and the one you’ll need for a residency permit – is Catalan. But visitors will find Spanish, Portuguese and French are also commonly spoken, and a fair few people will speak some English, too.

Sport

We’ve already mentioned the football. But Andorra’s main claim to sporting fame is as a renowned winter sports venue. With about 350km of ski runs, across 3,100 hectares of mountainous terrain, it boasts the largest ski area in the Pyrenees.

Economic model

Tourism, the mainstay of the economy, accounts for roughly 80 percent of Andorra’s GDP. More than 10 million tourists visit every year.

It also has no sales tax on most items – which is why you’ll often find a queue at the French border as locals pop into the principality to buy things like alcohol, cigarettes and (bizarrely) washing powder, which are significantly cheaper.

Head of state

Andorra has two heads of state, because history. It’s believed the principality was created by Charlemagne (c748 – 814CE), and was ruled by the count of Urgell up to 988CE, when it was handed over to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell. The principality, as we know it today, was formed by a treaty between the bishop of Urgell and the count of Foix in 1278.

Today, the state is jointly ruled by two co-princes: the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain and … the president of France, who (despite the French aversion to monarchy and nobility) has the title Prince of Andorra, following the transfer of the count of Foix’s claims to the Crown of France and, subsequently, to the head of state of the French Republic. 

Military, of sorts

Andorra does have a small, mostly ceremonial army. But all able-bodied Andorran men aged between 21 and 60 are obliged to respond to emergency situations, including natural disasters.

Legally, a rifle should be kept and maintained in every Andorran household – though the same law also states that the police will supply a firearm if one is required.

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