Emmanuel Macron has launched an appeal for political rivals to rally behind his centrist platform and fight what he described as the “extremist fever” gripping France at both ends of the political spectrum.
The French president on Wednesday took aim at the far-left France Insoumise as well as the far-right Rassemblement National party that won last week’s EU election, prompting him to dissolve the parliament and call a snap poll — a decision that has shocked politicians and markets.
“It’s simple — today we have unnatural alliances on both extremes that agree on nothing and are not capable of applying a political programme,” Macron told a news conference in Paris. “We are not perfect, we didn’t do everything well but we’ve had results and we’ve protected the country.”