The response across European political and media classes when French President, Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the French Parliament to hold snap elections at the end of this month verged on hysterical.
President Macron had, you would be led to think, completely taken leave of his senses. In response to the victory of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement Nationale, he was about to hand them power in the Assemblée nationale and Sénat – a crisis, deepened by President Macron’s folly, which would see the French Presidency itself fall to the far-right in 2027. Was this take on Mr Macron’s gambit a fair one? I don’t think so.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think this is a dangerous gambit, but it is just that, a gambit, not a gamble. It is underpinned by a strategic, political logic that makes a great deal of sense. President Macron is not playing dice. That his critics may yet be proven correct does not make his gambit the wrong decision, as anyone who has played poker will tell you. You play the hand you are dealt.
President Macron’s hand is hardly a strong one. The far right have been ascendant in France for years, thanks to the crisis of legitimacy that has plagued most western liberal democracies in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, underpinned by worsening living standards, spiralling cost of living, decaying public realms; the list goes on.
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