Jill Harsin

March 31, 2026

The National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen had about a month’s time, from the June 9 European elections, to the July 7 Legislative elections, to anticipate their coming takeover of France. In addition to their own momentum, they had another asset, or…

On July 7, 2024, the French will go to the polls for the second round of the Legislative Assembly. Out of 577 districts, 76 deputies were elected outright, in the first round. In 2022, that figure was only 4. Of the 76, 39 were from the National…

On June 25, 2024, there was a debate between Gabriel Attal, age 35, the sitting Prime Minister; Jordan Bardella, age 28, the designated Prime Minister of the National Rally party; and Manuel Bompard, age 38, of La France Insoumise, a leading member…

On Friday midnight, June 28, the short election season for the National Assembly closed and campaigning ended. On Sunday, June 30, 2024, French citizens are casting their ballots. The news media must show absolute restraint–no polls, no interviews,…

Foreign policy is of major interest in the upcoming National Assembly elections, and the programs of the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) the Rassemblement National (RN), and Ensemble (Presidential Majority) are online and easily accessible. The RN…

The second district of Hautes Alpes should have been easy. Joël Giraud, age 64, has been the deputy since 2002. In 2017, though a member of the Parti Radical de Gauche, he agreed to be invested by La République en Marche (now Renaissance). An énarque…

In Hautes-Alpes, a department in the southeast Paca Région (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), the Center and Left parties have been holding steady in a trending-right region. The largely rural area sends only two deputies to the National Assembly: the…

On March 28, 2024, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, founder and head of La France Insoumise, spoke before a university crowd at Paris XII (Paris-Est Creteil, a public university, founded in 1970). He was campaigning for the elections to the European Parliament in…

On June 21, Le Figaro released the results of the Ifop-Fudicial poll, conducted for them (along with LCI and Sud Radio) that showed, potentially, that France may become ungovernable, with two nearly equal opposing sides. That’s the good news. The bad…

Two years ago Marion Maréchal, Marine Le Pen’s niece, left the National Rally (RN) founded by her grandfather Jean-Marie Le Pen (the party known until 2018 as the National Front). She joined another far right party, Reconquête, founded in 2021 by…

What’s Going on in France?! The elections for the eurodeputies, held among all the member states on June 9, 2024, did not greatly change the composition of the European Parliament. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission,…

The elections for the eurodeputies, held among all the member states on June 9, 2024, did not greatly change the composition of the European Parliament. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, proclaimed that “the center held,”…

In the first hours after the assault, the major French newspapers covered the Hamas attack against Israel in much the same way that the US newspapers did: updates, casualty estimates, and speculations about the intelligence failures. On October 9,…

In the first hours after the assault, the major French newspapers covered the Hamas attack against Israel in much the same way that the US newspapers did: updates, casualty estimates, and speculations about the intelligence failures. On October 9,…

A few days ago, on June 21, Emmanuel Macron hinted that he would welcome an invitation to the BRICS summit, to be held this year in South Africa. What does that have to do with the chaos in Russia on June 24? The whole episode, and Russia’s response…

The Report on Russia of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament was released on July 21, 2020–four years after the Brexit vote, and only about three months before the US presidential election. It was deliberately brief (roughly fifty…

The National Assembly Commission on the Political, Economic, and Financial Interference by Foreign Powers . . . with the Purpose of Influencing or Corrupting Opinion, Leaders, and French Political Parties, just ended its work. It was preceded by…

Andréa Kotarac, LFI, tweeted his support for Jordan Bardella’s list (RN) for the European Parliament on May 14, 2019. He then announced it on television, stating that “It’s the Left that changed,” and accusing Mélenchon’s Left of “Islamogauchisme” (a…

One of the most surprising party switches in recent years was the decision of Andrea Kotarac, in 2019, to move from La France Insoumise, the far-left party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National. To be sure, his move seemed…