I went to Belfast last year and did a tour with a former IRA insurgent. He said when he was 14, British soldiers shot up his apartment bloc killing someone he knew. He joined the IRA's youth wing after that, then joined the IRA when he was 18. He was vague but said
To recap
- Le Pen party wins EU election
- Macron calls snap election at height of their momentum
- Le Pen party ends up losing anyway, far short of majority
- instead of governing with first-place left, Macron announces a right-wing PM
- now wants Le Pen approval for government
🚨 UPDATE: The far-right National Rally (RN) says it supports the appointment of Michel Barnier as PM.
This means that liberal President Emmanuel Macron has formed a de facto coalition with the fascist far right, in order to keep the left out of power.
Update: it's now official, in a just-released communiqué Macron has rejected a government led by the New Popular Front (NPF).
It's an unprecedented situation in the history of the 5th French Republic: the loser in the election effectively rejects yielding power to the winner.
He explains it by the fact that his "responsibility is to ensure that the country be neither blocked nor weakened", arguing that were he to nominate a NPF government they'd soon be censored by parliament and destituded.
That may be the case but still this awfully inconvenient fact remains: Macron's party got way less votes and MPs than the NPF, yet it is Macron's party that's still running the French government, and it is Macron himself making choices on who can or cannot assume power based on what he thinks would "weaken France" or not. It's insane when you think about it.
I think non-French and non-French-speaking readers should be told about how utterly insane things are now in and around Paris because of the Olympics are. The opening ceremony is one week away and they've already barred any access to the Seine! 🧵⤵️ •1/19
🇫🇷 FLASH - Emmanuel Macron méprise ses ministres, qu’il appelle les "losers", selon l’un de ses interlocuteurs réguliers : "Il estime qu'ils lui doivent tout et qu'il peut les briser, comme il l'a fait avec la dissolution, c'est effrayant". (via @paul_denton)