The Weekly Dispatch is your weekly summary of the major events taking place in French and European politics, published on Sundays in order to give you the perfect way to catch up with current affairs.

If you enjoy reading this, like this post and share it with your network! And of course, don’t hesitate to subscribe if you want to receive more directly to your inbox

🔨Grégoire de Fournas sanctioned for racism

This week saw a disgusting act in the Assemblée Nationale, where Grégoire de Fournas told Carlos Marten Bilongo ( LFI) to “go back to Africa”, causing an uproar that shut down the session of questions for the government. The strong reaction led to him and his Rassemblement National colleagues claiming that he was speaking about anyone from migrant smugglers, to migrants, to the boats themselves.

If you want to read what happened, check the dispatch below:

The French Dispatch

⛔️ A Racist Attack in the Assembly

What happened? Stepping up to the podium during a parliamentary session of questions directed towards the gov…

Read more

5 months ago · 2 likes · Julien Hoez

As outlined in that article, the bureau of the assembly met on Friday afternoon, and they decided agreed that he had committed the office of engaging in “demonstrations disturbing the order or causing tumultuous scenes”, and they therefore decided upon the heaviest sanction available within the regulations of the Assemblée:

• Firstly, he’s immediately banned from appearing at the Palais Bourbon’s assembly for 15 sitting days.

• Secondly, he will have half of his parliamentary allowance for two full months

The offending deputy, Grégoire de Fournas, typically continued to play innocent: “I feel this sanction of incredible harshness with great injustice. But respectful of the institution, I submit to it”

The whole episode has highlighted the cracks appearing in Marine Le Pen’s attempt to normalise the Rassemblement National, which has done a good job of squeezing Les Républicains between the far-right and the Presidential majority.

Instead, the entire episode has recalled images from back when Jean-Marie Le Pen was president, when the party was known for rampant racism, xenophobia, and even holocaust denial.

Speaking of which, they now have a new leader…

👑 Bardella takes control of the RN

Yesterday saw the annual congress of Marine Le Pen’s party, where the membership took part in the election for the person who will take Le Pen’s place and lead the party into the future.

-ish.

In what looked like more of a crowning than an election, Jordan Bardella, the crown prince of the far-right party, was elected with a score of 84.84%, beating Louis Aliot to win a majority of the 36,600 activists.

Upon becoming the leader, Bardella wasted no time to abandon his previous promise of ‘preserving unity’, and very quickly set-out to reinforce his position, quickly placing his allies in key positions and removing those that had held key positions in the years up until now.

One of the bigger victims, long-time Le Pen ally Steeve Brioir, mayor of Hénin-Beaumont and Frontist from the early days, was scathing in his criticisms, stating that the move was the “beginning of a purge against those who defend the social line” of Marinism.

Bardella’s rival Aliot, who is one of the only non-allies who make up the executive committee, likewise questioned the move, and took the opportunity to continue his campaign: “The fact that they are not in the governing bodies raises questions, and will raised question from the activists”.

The voices kept adding to the disquiet about the bureau, forcing Bardella’s entourage to push back against the aggressive questioning: “We do not appoint someone to the executive office one who calls you a “little prick” in the investiture committee…The elders have no place by divine right"

Regardless of what is happening, it looks like there is a fight that will continue to intensify between what is beginning to be called ‘Gaucho-lepenism’, represented by those who have bought the RN to the point it is today, normalisation and all, and what is closer to Zemmourism, a line favoured by Jordan Bardella.

Whether this will lead to the victory of one camp, perpetual instability within the party, or a potential break when other actors such as Marion Maréchal-Le Pen move to restart their own political careers when they smell blood in the water, we won’t be able to tell right away, but currently it’s looking like the RN may deal with much more turbulent times than they may currently be ready for.

🎮 Government support for video games

To end this weekly dispatch on a fun-note, this week saw Paris Games Week take place, one of the major global events in the annual calendar of the sector, and one where French developers have a time to shine with a public that, typically, plays games from other parts of the world.

This time, six ministers who focus on Sports, digital transition, childhood, youth, disability, and culture all appeared and visited the event, wanting to learn more about the industry and wanting to show more support for them too.

With the industry having seen a €5.6 billion profit in France, the government clearly sees it this industry as an “instrument of soft power” and as an industry that should be supporters, and therefore announced an extension of the tax credit that is currently until 2028.

The tax incentive scheme is used to cover 30% of the expenditure that is eligible for the production of a new game, and to even potentially increase it. However, some politicians, notable Ugo Bernalicis (LFI), claimed that this wasn’t enough, and said that to have a main policy be only tax credits is “a bit light”. He added that “Politics gets into this in the worst way. Not by asking questions, but to do communications"

Another topic was cyberbullying, with a consultation on the topic being announced in order to decide on further actions. The culture minister, Rima Abdul-Malak, was also announced another initiative to engage in and promote the more positive aspects of the video game industry:

"For too many years there have been clichés about video games that may have meant that politicians did not dare to show total support. Today, this sector has also managed to make people talk about it and more positively, to show all its diversity and creativity”

Thank you for reading the French Dispatch! If you liked what you read please don’t hesitate to like this post and subscribe to the newsletter by clicking/tapping the button below:

And if you’d like to contribute a coffee or two to help fuel my coverage of the wild world of politics, feel free to click on the picture below: