French far-right accelerates recruitment drive with Macron government on brink

4/9/2025 16:04

France's far-right National Rally is fine-tuning its candidate list for a possible snap legislative election, seeking to avoid what it called "casting errors" that let several "black sheep" derail its hopes for a majority in last year's vote.



With the government hanging by a thread, the RN is betting President Emmanuel Macron's only path out of France's latest budget crisis will be to dissolve its deeply divided parliament.



The RN is the largest single parliamentary party and believes it could finally win a majority that would give the far-right unprecedented power over the eurozone's No. 2 economy.



It is a risky bet.



Only Macron can call a vote, and even if he does, polls suggest the RN is unlikely to perform much better than last year, when opposition forces aligned to block it from power.



The party remains taboo for many in France, with a dark history and divisive pledges to slash immigrant welfare, limit their healthcare access and ramp up deportations.