218 French candidates withdraw to prevent far-right absolute majority

Good morning from Paris,

Some 218 candidates – mainly from the left and Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble - who came third in the first round of France’s legislative elections have decided to withdraw their candidacy in the second round.

This means that voters will have the choice between the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) candidate of their constituency and one other contender.

Politically, their objective is to prevent an absolute majority for far-right RN in the next parliament. However, 88 candidates who came third, remain.

Reporting from Paris, Laurent Geslin explains how this development could impact France’s political landscape.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Euractiv’s Alice Taylor, the president of the Council of Europe’s Social Rights Committee thoroughly analysed why voters increasingly turn to the right.

Citing EU data, Aoife Nolan said EU citizens face worsening standards of living: “If we don’t get social rights right, we’re going to see more shifts, I fear, towards undemocratic, authoritarian governance that undermines all human rights”.

Read the full interview.

The next European Commission should have a “vice-president for agriculture” to cover the entire food supply chain, the president of the largest European farmers’ association, told Euractiv’s Angelo Di Mambro in an interview.

Meanwhile, centre-right MEP Peter Liese said the EU Parliament’s ENVI committee is on track to be split up so that it no longer handles health and food safety.

In economy, Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis quelled business fears of heightened economic protectionism, while ECB chief Christine Lagarde warned about respect for the EU budgetary rules.

In the digital world, an EU Commission report found that the EU is falling short of meeting its 2030 digital targets, particularly in connectivity and digital skills.

Last but not least, the EU executive plans to allow the providers of ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence (AI) models to write codes of practice that will determine their compliance in the short to medium term, with civil society in a consultation role. Eliza Gkritsi has the details.

BERLIN

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ROME

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MADRID

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PRAGUE

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WARSAW

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BRATISLAVA

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SOFIA

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BUCHAREST

EU Commission clears Romania’s plans to build two new nuclear reactors. The European Commission has issued a positive opinion on the technical and nuclear safety aspects of the project for units 3 and 4 of Romania’s only nuclear power plant, the Romanian Energy Ministry announced on Tuesday. Read more.

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BELGRADE

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SARAJEVO
Energy Community ministers meet in Bosnia and Herzegovina as EU tariffs loom. EU candidate countries from the continent’s South and East are meeting in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday to reinforce efforts to integrate with the bloc’s energy markets to avoid potential tariffs on power exports to the EU. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor]