French Far-Right Party Achieves Historic Success in EU Elections, Macron Calls Snap National Vote

The European Parliament elections saw significant gains for far-right parties across the continent. In France, the Rassemblement National (RN) party led by Jordan Bardella performed exceptionally well, securing 31.5% of the votes and becoming the largest party in the country. This is a 40-year record for any French political party in European elections. French President Emmanuel Macron responded to his coalition's poor performance by dissolving the Assemblée Nationale and calling early legislative elections for June 30. His decision was seen as a gamble, given the strong showing of far-right parties in the European Parliament election.