Will Zemmour Bring a Right-Wing Revolution in France?

If you follow European politics even a little bit, you must have heard of Éric Zemmour, the former right-wing pundit who is running for president in France and who is now a serious contender for the second round of the election. Everyone thought the results of the April 2022 election were written in advance, with a second round between Macron and Le Pen, which the former would have won easily. But Zemmour’s entry into the race and his rise in the polls suddenly made this campaign very interesting. Unless he collapses in the coming month, which I doubt, you’re probably going to hear a lot more about him soon...

The main theme of his campaign, overshadowing everything else, is the fight against immigration. He explicitly presents his bid for the presidency as the only way to prevent the Grand Remplacement (“Great Replacement”). According to him, unless France radically restricts immigration from North and sub-Saharan Africa (he says that we should aim for zero), people of non-European descent will eventually become the majority and the country will cease to be French culturally.... polls show that 2/3 of the French population think it’s true, so it’s not as if this idea is really controversial outside of the bubble in which most commentators live, but Zemmour managed to make it a major theme of the campaign, which is unprecedented....

Conclusion

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Anti-immigration sentiment has been rising in Europe for several years and even left-wing governments have had to adopt a more restrictionist stance under pressure from public opinion. Zemmour’s platform on immigration would necessarily result in a showdown with the EU. Most people seem to think that he would have to back down, but in my opinion they are completely delusional. Public opinion in Europe is overwhelmingly on Zemmour’s side on immigration and France leaving the EU would be the end of the Union, something people in Brussels are well aware of, so I think that, as soon as they realize that he is committed to getting what he wants on that issue, they would bend the knee. Of course, for that to happen, Zemmour would have to win first, but this is why you should follow the presidential race closely next year. The stakes have never been so high and, despite what everyone thought a few months ago, it should be very interesting.

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