PARIS — One of French President Emmanuel Macron’s top political allies is under fire over respect for the rule of law after he fired a high-ranking official at the country’s most powerful constitutional body. The head of France’s Constitutional Council, Richard Ferrand, one of the president’s closest confidants, dismissed the institution’s secretary general, Aurélie Bretonneau, just a year after she was appointed.  In an internal email sent late on March 23 and seen by POLITICO, Bretonneau said Ferrand had “informed [her] that he has proposed to the President of the Republic that [she] step down from [her] position due to differences of opinion on the conduct of the institution.” The move triggered strong reactions from top French political officials and legal scholars. Aurélien Rousseau, a former health minister in Macron’s government and now a center-left MP, said on X that the move was “worrying” and highlighted the “flippancy with which our institutions are treated.” Green MEP David Cormand posted: “It is a problem that a member of a particular clan has been appointed to head our country’s highest constitutional body,” adding that such actions undermine French democracy and institutions. Ferrand’s appointment by Macron last year was criticized as an attempt to politicize the independent institution, which has the power to rule on whether legislation passed by the National Assembly is in accordance with the constitution. Ferrand, a former president of the National Assembly, has limited legal training and was one of Macron’s earliest supporters. The Constitutional Council rules on legal challenges and oversees elections. Its members don’t need to be trained judges or lawyers.  Four people within the institution confirmed to POLITICO that Ferrand had decided to fire Bretonneau. “Differences of opinion” between Ferrand and Bretonneau had emerged in recent months, particularly “on the role of the law”, said two of the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. According to one of the officials, the disagreements between Ferrand and Bretonneau reached their peak near the end of last year when, amid a spiralling budgetary crisis, the government contemplated the possibility of passing fiscal legislation via executive action. Bretonneau sent out an internal memo arguing that a budget passed by the government through executive action could not include amendments on what had already been drafted, a ruling that would have tied the government’s hands during a period of tense negotiations with opposition parties. She also argued that the Constitutional Council did not have the authority to review the legislation. Her conclusions reportedly upset Ferrand. Ferrand did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment on Monday. Bretonneau also declined to comment. “Aurélie Bretonneau is not the type of person to compromise on the defense of the rule of law, the rigour of legal reasoning or the independence of the institution,” a senior civil servant told POLITICO. “If that’s what bothered her, it’s a major problem.” Bretonneau’s appointment had been directly approved by Ferrand.

HOW TWO WARS ARE PULLING EUROPE AND THE US APART The EU is worried President Trump could abandon Ukraine if the bloc doesn’t support him in the Middle East. By NICHOLAS VINOCUR in Brussels Illustration by Natália Delgado/ POLITICO  The biggest fear of European leaders is that Donald Trump’s war in Iran will lead him to abandon Ukraine. Governments are terrified that the U.S. president could retaliate against America’s European allies for spurning his appeals for assistance in the Middle East, primarily by cutting off what’s left of U.S. help for Kyiv, according to four EU diplomats with knowledge of their discussions. As they scramble to avoid a permanent break in the transatlantic relationship, leaders hope their offer of limited support for his action against Tehran will suffice to convince Trump to stay the course in the conflict with Russia. The war in Iran “must not divert our attention from the support we give Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the end of last week’s EU summit in Brussels. It’s easy to see why EU leaders are so anxious. In recent days Trump has repeatedly blasted them for failing to do more to help him unblock the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping route used by about 20 percent of the world’s oil that has effectively been closed by Iran. He has also explicitly linked continued U.S. involvement in NATO to the Middle East conflict. “NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!” he railed in a Truth Social Post over the weekend. “They complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz … COWARDS,” he concluded. “[W]e will remember.” At the same time, further deepening fears about the transatlantic alliance, Moscow offered Washington a quid pro quo under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence with Iran if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia, POLITICO revealed on Friday. While the U.S. declined the offer, according to two people familiar with the U.S.-Russia negotiations, the fact it was proffered in the first place points to a possible tradeoff between U.S. involvement in Ukraine and the Middle East. “There’s a crack right now emerging between, you know, Europe and the U.S., which, again, as an avid pro-American and transatlanticist, I lament,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. “But it’s a reality that I have to live with. And I obviously try to salvage what I can.” MISSILES LIKE CANDIES Governments are concerned that the war in Iran is using up missiles and air defense munitions that Kyiv needs to protect itself against Russia, the four EU diplomats, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic exchanges, told POLITICO. “When you see what Trump did on Greenland, how he cut off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine on a whim, there’s always a risk [that Trump could remove U.S. support for Ukraine],” one of the diplomats said. “The concern is obviously that the Middle East is taking attention away from Ukraine,” added a second diplomat from a mid-sized EU country. “The Emiratis are shooting out Patriot [air defense missiles] like candies, whereas Ukraine desperately needs them. It can’t become an either-or situation” in which the U.S. only has enough bandwidth for one conflict and abandons Ukraine, the diplomat added. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been explicit about the risk of such a tradeoff, telling the BBC on Thursday that he had a “very bad feeling” about the impact of the Middle East war on Ukraine. He lamented the fact that as the war goes on, U.S.-led peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are being “constantly postponed” in what the Kremlin calls a “situational pause.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pictured at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain on March 18, 2026. | Alberto Gardin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Ukrainian negotiators traveled over the weekend to the U.S. for talks with Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The latter praised the talks as “constructive” in a post on X, but gave no hint of when negotiations with Russia would resume. DAMAGE CONTROL European leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, are ramping up efforts to show they support the U.S. president’s goal of freeing up the Strait of Hormuz. In a now familiar role, Rutte has been outspoken in praising Trump’s efforts. The former Dutch prime minister last week called the destruction of Iran’s military capacity by the U.S. and Israel “very important,” linking it to “European security” at a time when some EU leaders, like Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, have criticized the war as “illegal.” Macron has been more circumspect in public, but active behind the scenes. In two separate calls with Trump before last Thursday’s gathering of EU leaders, the French president assured his U.S. counterpart that France would help clear the Strait when conditions allow, according to comments from Trump himself and a third EU diplomat who was briefed on the calls. “This is about managing the man,” the diplomat said. In the early hours of Friday, Macron — who has otherwise pledged to send a naval detachment to the Strait of Hormuz after the hot phase of the war dies down — said France was pursuing the aim of freeing it up via the United Nations. In response to a question from POLITICO at the European Council on Thursday, the French leader said Paris intends to “sound out its main partners” about tabling a resolution in the Security Council on securing freedom of navigation in the vital waterway. Trump is no fan of the United Nations, but he could see an advantage to a U.N. Security Council resolution that forms the basis for a broader coalition to free up the Strait, a fourth EU diplomat said. The southern suburbs of Beirut after an Israeli airstrike on March 10, 2026. | Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images The U.K.’s Starmer is also doing more to help Trump in the Middle East. Following reports that Iran had fired a ballistic missile at the Diego Garcia U.S.-U.K. base in the Indian Ocean, Starmer gave the U.S. a green light to use British bases to launch strikes on Iranian sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz. Previously he had only granted permission for the bases to be used for defensive strikes. Starmer was also the main organizer of a statement signed by seven EU and allied countries (the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Japan) in which they expressed their “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.” Asked about the intent of this statement, which doesn’t promise any immediate material help, the third diplomat said: “It’s part of the same effort. We need to show Trump we are active in the Middle East. It’s in our interests, but also in Ukraine’s.” Such pledges remain vague for now. Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have both asserted they have no intention of being drawn into the war in Iran. But as far as Trump is concerned, “appearances matter — sometimes more than substance,” said the same diplomat.

FRENCH FAR RIGHT CLAIMS MOMENTUM FOR PRESIDENCY AFTER LOCAL ELECTIONS Marine Le Pen’s National Rally failed to win big target cities such as Marseille, Toulon and Nîmes, but the party still thinks it has the upper hand nationwide. By CLEA CAULCUTT in Paris POLITICO illustration. The far-right National Rally may not have won the string of big target cities it was hoping for in France’s local election on Sunday, but its leaders said they had still built up a grassroots momentum that would propel them to victory in next year’s presidential contest. The 2027 presidential election is seen as a decisive moment for the EU as the Euroskeptic and NATO-skeptic National Rally is the current favorite to win the race for the Elysée. This week’s municipal elections are being closely scrutinized to gauge whether Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration party is still France’s predominant political force. All in all, it was a mixed night for the far right. Its biggest victory came on the Riviera, where one of its allies won Nice, France’s fifth-biggest city. The National Rally had also campaigned hard in other significant southern cities such as Marseille, Toulon and Nîmes. It performed well in all of them but was beaten into second place. The races were close in Toulon and Nîmes, and Le Pen’s party won 40 percent of the vote in Marseille — a considerable share in France’s diverse and cosmopolitan second city. Putting a positive spin on the results, the party leaders stressed that they had won numerous smaller and mid-sized cities and towns, particularly in their southern heartlands, such as Carcassonne, Agde and Menton — adding to the first-round victory in Perpignan last week. National Rally President Jordan Bardella told supporters in Paris the far right had achieved the “biggest breakthrough of its history,” and was seizing “a strong momentum” that signaled “the end of an old world running out of steam.” National Rally mayoral candidate Laure Lavalette casts her ballot during the second round of France’s 2026 municipal elections in Toulon on March 22, 2026. | Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images National Rally leader Le Pen meanwhile hailed “dozens” of regional victories and “a strategy of local implantation” that was working. STRONG NATIONWIDE, WEAKER IN BIG CITIES The National Rally’s argument is that traditional parties, particularly on the left, are strong in the big cities but that these do not fully reflect the wider national political currents, which are running toward the right. In Paris, for example, the National Rally candidate and MEP Thierry Mariani scored a dismal 1.6 percent of the vote in the first round on March 15, but nationwide Bardella is still the favorite for next year’s presidential election.   A Harris Interactive poll conducted after Sunday’s municipal elections confirmed Bardella’s position as frontrunner ahead of the 2027 race. Bardella would get 35 percent of the vote in the first round of voting, the survey said, 17 points ahead of the center-right contender, former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. Still, the municipal election results will definitely reignite concerns among National Rally strategists about whether they really can win in a second round next year, given that the tradition of uniting against the far right in runoffs — something that helped crush Le Pen’s presidential bids in 2017 and 2022 — was on full display on Sunday. In the Mediterranean port city of Toulon, Laure Lavalette, a high-profile National Rally politician and close Le Pen ally, had a promising start in the first round of voting, winning 42 percent of the vote, 13 points ahead of the incumbent conservative mayor Josée Massi. But in Sunday’s runoff, Massi pulled ahead, benefitting from the withdrawal of a conservative candidate. The National Rally had hoped that its swell of support could break that second-round Achilles heel in these municipal elections but this perennial electoral vulnerability — that it is the party everyone gangs up against — looks set to persist. NO RESPITE FOR BARDELLA’S RIVALS The National Rally’s rivals are certainly not dismissing the far right because of its losses in the bigger cities on Sunday. Gabriel Attal, presidential hopeful and leader of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, said Sunday’s results showed a rise of the extremes, referring to not just the far-right National Rally but also the far-left France Unbowed, which won in the northeastern city of Roubaix and in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. “It’s a warning signal,” he said. “More and more citizens, who voted for them, want things to change, and to change more quickly.” For the conservative Les Républicains, Sunday’s elections were bittersweet. The right won the mayoral jobs in several mid-sized cities including Limoges, Tulle, Brest and Clermont-Ferrand. In France’s fourth city, Toulouse, a former conservative Jean-Luc Moudenc saw off a far-left challenger from France Unbowed, backed by a left-wing coalition. Les Républicains leader Bruno Retailleau on Sunday claimed the right was “the Number One local political force” in France. Les Républicains candidate Rachida Dati at a campaign rally after the announcement of her defeat in the second round of the 2026 Paris municipal elections on March 22, 2026. | Ian Langsdon/AFP via Getty Images But the right was wiped out in Paris, where former Culture Minister Rachida Dati lost to the Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire. And in France’s second-largest city Lyon, the conservative candidate Jean-Michel Aulas, a former football club owner, lost by a narrow margin to the Green incumbent mayor. Retailleau sought to cast the conservatives as the force that could appeal to voters wanting to shut out the extremes, and slammed the National Rally as “demagogues.” There is “a French way, expressed by millions of fellow citizens who want neither the social chaos of [France Unbowed] or the budgetary disorder that the [National Rally’s] economic manifesto would bring about,” he said.  But the Les Républicains party has several presidential hopefuls and no clear path to decide which one will represent them in the presidential race. On Sunday, conservative heavyweights were already calling for the right to agree on a candidate against Bardella. This race for a single candidate to emerge in the middle ground is also likely to accelerate because former Prime Minister Philippe, buoyed by his victory against a strong Communist challenger in Le Havre in Normandy, will now be looking to promote his candidacy. Bardella, by contrast, simply tried to present the National Rally’s onward progression toward the Élysée as inevitable. Borrowing a phrase from former President François Mitterrand’s campaign in 1981 to end the right’s dominance in France, Bardella said the National Rally was now “a tranquil force.” “Our successes are not an achievement, but a beginning,” he said. Laura Kayali contributed reporting.

PARIS — Everyone seems to have something to celebrate after runoffs in municipal elections across France that offer an early glimpse of the trends that will define next year’s presidential election to replace the term-limited Emmanuel Macron. The far-right National Rally made gains in mid-sized and smaller towns in the French heartland. The beleaguered conservative Les Républicains held on to most of the cities it already controlled and even picked up a few new ones. Macron’s Renaissance party now controls Bordeaux and Annecy, its first two big local wins. The center-left Socialist Party kept control of Paris and other large metropolises, while the hard-left France Unbowed picked up several working-class suburbs at the heart of its electoral strategy. Not everyone can be a victor. So here’s our picks of Sunday night’s most prominent winners and losers. WINNERS Emmanuel Grégoire: The soft-spoken 48-year-old catapulted into the ranks of France’s most important politicians after being handily elected mayor of Paris and extending the Socialist Party’s 25-year rule of the capital. He now counts Zohran Mamdani and Sadiq Khan as his peers.  Edouard Philippe’s presidential campaign: Macron’s former prime minister is currently seen in polls as the most likely candidate to advance to the runoff in the race for the Elysée, where he’d likely face off against the front-running National Rally. He had conditioned his bid for the Élysée on winning reelection as mayor of his hometown, Le Havre — a condition that has now been fulfilled. Philippe will hope this victory further boosts his candidacy as his political camp begins to mull what the future will look like after a 10-year Macron presidency. Eric Ciotti: The new far-right mayor of Nice, the unofficial capital of the French Riviera, tried two years ago to strike a deal with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally as the head of the conservative Les Républicains. He locked himself in party headquarters to prevent a coup, but the farcical effort failed and he was booted from the movement. That gamble has paid off, handing him the keys to France’s fifth-largest city. His win is also a partial victory for Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s party, which now has a powerful ally, but Ciotti’s triumph was also the result of a local rivalry. His advocacy for mass privatizations and admiration for Argentina’s chainsaw-wielding libertarian President Javier Milei also doesn’t align with Le Pen’s self-description as being “neither left nor right” and defense of parts of the welfare state. The National Rally: Party President Bardella said the National Rally “achieved the greatest breakthrough in its entire history.” Le Pen said it won dozens of cities. Eric Ciotti salutes his supporters in Nice after the results of the second round of France’s 2026 municipal elections on March 22, 2026. | Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images LOSERS Also the National Rally: There is also reason for the far-right party to worry. The two-round voting system once again seemed to block the National Rally from victory in key targets like Nîmes and Toulon. And after a historic showing in the first round in Marseille, the party’s candidate was handily defeated in the runoff.    Emmanuel Macron: The French president had quietly thrown his weight behind Rachida Dati, his former culture minister, and former football executive Jean-Michel Aulas in Lyon. Dati conceded defeat and Aulas lost by a razor-thin margin, but he has announced a legal challenge of the result. Left-wing alliances: The hard-left France Unbowed and the center-left Socialist Party joined forces in cities across France to defend or capture town halls. But in Toulouse and Limoges — where Socialists backed France Unbowed candidates — as well as Clermont-Ferrand and Brest — where hard-left candidates supported moderates — left-wing alliances lost. The Greens: France’s environmentalists have lost control of several cities they won during the last municipal elections, held amid the Covid-19 pandemic, including the key metropolises of Strasbourg and Bordeaux. They can take some solace for now in a narrow projected win in Lyon, France’s third-largest city, and in the Alpine city of Grenoble — both secured through local alliances with France Unbowed.  François Bayrou: The centrist former prime minister, an iconic figure in French politics, lost in his own city of Pau just months after being ousted by a parliamentary no-confidence vote in September. It could mark the end of his decades-long political career.

TOULOUSE, France — The prospect of the hard-left France Unbowed party taking control of Toulouse, France’s fourth-largest city and home to Europe’s best-known airplane maker, is putting industry on edge. It’s not just that a win in the second round of local elections Sunday could give the party’s anticapitalist leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a major boost ahead of next year’s presidential election. That’s a concern for later. The immediate fear is that if France Unbowed makes history here — the party has never come close to controlling such a big metropolis — it will heap taxes on local icons like Airbus to pay for a generous manifesto that includes water subsidies, free public transport for residents under 26 years old, and free school meals and educational supplies. “I’m concerned it will jeopardize plans for new firms and factories to open in Toulouse, including the future prospects of Airbus,” said Pierre-Olivier Nau, the president of the employers’ lobby MEDEF in the Haute-Garonne department, which includes Toulouse. Nau also worries that the hard left’s opposition to adding a high-speed rail connection between Bordeaux and Toulouse, due to cost at least €14 billion, will harm businesses that have been expecting it a long time. France Unbowed’s mayoral hopeful argues the project will damage the environment and push up rents in Toulouse by attracting commuters or remote workers from other cities with higher salaries. A TIGHT RACE MEDEF and other business lobbies are now scrambling to react, given France Unbowed was never expected to get this close to power in Toulouse. Its candidate, lawmaker François Piquemal, was polling behind his Socialist Party rival François Briançon in the run-up to the first round of the vote last Sunday. The Socialist leadership had vowed not to work with the hard left after the torrent of criticism unleashed against Mélenchon following accusations of antisemitic behavior and his unapologetic reaction to the death of a far-right activist. So Piquemal’s second-place finish and his quickly formed alliance with Briançon to topple the longtime center-right mayor, Jean-Luc Moudenc, came as a surprise. The runoff is expected to be close. A poll released Thursday showed Moudenc winning by just two points in the second round, within the margin of error. Two local employers’ lobbies recently slammed the hard left’s plans for Toulouse, and a group of 350 local celebrities, including rugby luminaries and business owners, signed an open letter calling on citizens to vote against France Unbowed. “A lot of business projects have been put on hold,” said Nau. Piquemal says this is scaremongering. The 41-year-old former teacher denied he will raise taxes and downplayed talk among business leaders that Airbus, the region’s dominant employer responsible for more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs, would reduce investments or shift facilities if he were elected. Airbus declined a request for comment. A general view shows an entrance of the Airbus Defence and Space campus in Toulouse on October 16, 2024. | Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images “Moudenc’s policies, but also [President Emmanuel] Macron’s policies, have worsened living conditions in Toulouse,” Piquemal told reporters in Toulouse on Thursday. “We are the ones who support jobs, we support companies,” he added. “We are the ones defending small shop owners against big corporations.” A soft-spoken man with a light beard and warm manner, Piquemal is characteristic of the new generation of radical left activists in France. He’s just as comfortable discussing toxic masculinity and making videos on TikTok as he is campaigning for rent controls or against Israel’s war in Gaza. He was aboard the so-called Freedom Flotilla with Greta Thunberg and MEP Rima Hassan, carrying aid to Gaza before they were all arrested by Israeli forces. Piquemal, however, is much more understated than his party’s flamethrowing leader. But he’s benefiting from the success of Mélenchon’s adversarial approach to politics. France Unbowed is trying to establish itself as the ultimate anti-establishment party ahead of what is expected to be a showdown with the far right in next year’s presidential election. Most polls show Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s party, the National Rally, is currently the favorite in the race for the Elysée. “France Unbowed is the most solid, the best-placed to build a barrage against the far right,” said Ismael Youssouf-Huard, a France Unbowed activist and candidate for the Toulouse city council. “Mélenchon is the sensible choice against the National Rally,” he said. Results in the first round of voting have gone some way toward validating Mélenchon’s provocative approach. France Unbowed won the poor, diverse city of Saint-Denis in the Paris suburbs outright in the first round and is on track to score the mayor’s job in the industrial northeastern city of Roubaix. Hard-left candidate François Piquemal talking to voters in the impoverished Reynerie neighbourhood in Toulouse. | Clea Caulcutt/POLITICO The election in Toulouse is seen as a major test case for Mélenchon ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Can he and his party confirm its leadership role on the left ahead of the presidential election or will more moderate voters, turned off by the hard left’s radicalism, flock toward the opposition? ‘ARE YOU READY FOR SUNDAY?’ At a market squashed between a burnt-out drug dealers’ den and a tower block in the Reynerie neighborhood, Piquemal is trying to get people to vote. “Are you ready for Sunday?” he asked, as he handed out leaflets. “You need to go and vote.” In the Reynerie market, shoppers are pleased to see him. “I’m so happy he did well in the first round,” said Claude Compas, a retired special education teacher. Thibaut Cazal, a leftwing candidate for the city council, hopes to beat abstention in the poorer neighbourhoods of Toulouse. | Clea Caulcutt/POLITICO But some voters are worried about the prospect of the far left running the city. “They say they’ll give free public transport to the youth, but nothing’s free,” said retiree Abdallah Taberkokt. “Who’s going to pay? We are.” Piquemal was generally warmly received — little surprise considering Reynerie swung heavily for him in the first round of the vote. Still, Piquemal thought there was more excitement than usual in his core constituencies. He said he was harnessing “greater momentum” than during the last local election six years ago, when Moudenc narrowly defeated a more moderate candidate backed by a united left. Piquemal’s supporters believe their champion will pave the way for a unified left, despite the fact that the first round of voting exposed deep divisions nationally over local alliances with Mélenchon and the hard left. “These local elections are going to make history,” said Thibaut Cazal, a candidate for councilor alongside Piquemal. “It’ll show that left-wing families can be reconciled.” France Unbowed may still fall short in Toulouse. But even if it does, the party will have proved that it cannot be ignored ahead of the big presidential showdown in 2027.

BRUSSELS — French President Emmanuel Macron said France was looking into ways of unblocking the Strait of Hormuz by acting at the United Nations level. “We have begun an exploratory process, and we will see in the coming days if it has a chance of succeeding,” Macron announced on Friday in response to a question from POLITICO after a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. The French president said that he “explained to the U.N. Secretary-General [António Guterres] this afternoon that France intends to sound out its main partners, and in particular the members of the Security Council, on whether it would be appropriate to establish a U.N. framework for what we want to do in the Strait of Hormuz.” Macron said that he discussed that idea with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a call on Thursday morning and with Guterres, who on Thursday joined the European Council for lunch. Macron then informed other EU leaders. Guterres told leaders it was important for the Global South that any initiative on clearing the Strait of Hormuz go through the United Nations, according to one EU diplomat. Earlier in the day, a second diplomat told POLITICO that such an initiative could consist of a resolution that might win support from Gulf and European countries, creating a basis for a broader coalition to secure the vital waterway. Iran has largely sealed off the critical maritime artery that carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, driving up global energy prices. Macron said he would test the chances of success of the U.N. initiative, without giving further details on the plan. “I think this is something that could help. I am prudent because it doesn’t only depend on us,” he said.

BRUSSELS — Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he’s got “more important things” to do than dabble in local politics after the Socialist Party candidate for Paris mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, accused the French president of making “a pact with the devil” to try to swing the race against him. In an interview Thursday morning, Grégoire accused Macron of personally intervening to convince the far-right candidate Sarah Knafo, who narrowly qualified for the runoff, to leave the race. Knafo’s decision to abandon her campaign narrowed the runoff field down to two candidates on the left and just one on the right: Rachida Dati, Macron’s former culture minister. That dynamic will make the race more competitive despite Grégoire’s strong showing in the first round. “Emmanuel Macron personally intervened … to make sure that the far right withdraws to the profit of his candidate,” Grégoire told France Info, though he did not present any evidence of the allegations. When asked about the remarks ahead of a meeting of EU leaders, Macron said they “make no sense” and “dishonor the person who made them so bluntly. It’s not serious.” PARIS LOCAL ELECTION POLL OF POLLS All 3 Years 2 Years 1 Year 6 Months Smooth Kalman For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls. Macron went on to say the discussions being held in Brussels, where heads of government will try to tackle the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and the EU’s economic agenda, are bigger priorities for him than the campaign to lead the French capital. “The discussion we are having right now shows that I largely have other things to do,” he said. “I don’t know Ms. Knafo personally, and I’m not getting involved in these municipal elections at all,” Macron added. The French leader’s only other public comment this week, criticism of moderate parties who formed alliances with their more radical counterparts, was relayed by the government’s spokesperson. In the run-up to Sunday’s first round of the Paris mayoral election, Macron’s party backed the center-right candidate Pierre-Yves Bournazel. But officials close to Macron suggested that Dati privately had his support After the contest was over, Macron called Dati and the head of Bournazel’s party, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, encouraging them to make an alliance in the wake of the latter’s disappointing fourth-place finish. The duo went on to join forces in a bid to defeat Grégoire in Sunday’s runoff.

BRUSSELS — France and Germany will try one more time to agree on how to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet — with a deadline in April. The project, known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), has stalled for months because of bitter disagreements between France’s Dassault and Germany’s Airbus Defence and Space, but French and German officials said Thursday they will try to reboot the program. “They just can’t seem to agree. Our job is to ensure they reach an agreement, so we have jointly decided to launch an initiative to bring Airbus and Dassault closer together in the coming weeks,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters ahead of a European Council meeting. “This must be done in a calm and respectful manner, precisely to identify areas of common ground.” A German official told reporters: “Germany and France have agreed to a final attempt at mediation between the industries, to be conducted by experts. Due to the upcoming decisions on the federal budget, a result must be reached by mid-April.” FCAS, which also includes Spain, is intended to replace Germany’s Eurofighter and France’s Rafale jets by around 2040. The program includes a warplane — which lies at the heart of the disagreement between the two defense giants — as well as drones and a combat cloud. While German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is open to developing two separate planes, Macron has spoken against that option. POLITICO previously reported that Macron met with Dassault CEO Eric Trappier and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury last week to discuss the project. The topic was also discussed at a bilateral meeting between the French president and German chancellor on Wednesday. Laura Kayali reported from Paris, and Giorgio Leali and Hans von der Burchard reported from Brussels.

PARIS — Far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon is emerging from this month’s municipal elections as France’s chief political disrupter, building momentum he hopes will turn him into the leading contender against the far right in next year’s presidential race. The nightmare scenario for France’s beleaguered center left, however, is that Mélenchon would make for a highly divisive presidential candidate, and polling suggests he could ultimately gift a win to the far-right National Rally in 2027. The 74-year-old former teacher took a highly abrasive, confrontational approach to the local elections — stoking controversy with his unapologetic response to the killing of a far-right activist, and later with comments that were condemned as antisemitic. But this pugnacious strategy — slammed by his critics as a “brutalization” of politics — seems to have paid off, with his France Unbowed party winning big in key target areas like working-class and immigrant communities in Sunday’s first round. Mélenchon has hailed his results as a “magnificent breakthrough.” France Unbowed won the poor, diverse city of Saint-Denis in the suburbs of Paris outright, and he looks well-placed to win mayoral contests in the northeastern city of Roubaix and in France’s fourth-largest city, Toulouse. DIVISIVE LEADER Mélenchon’s performance now looks set to have major consequences across France’s political landscape. He is anathema to France’s centrists, and his political rise only heightens the perception that the country’s leftist camp will be rudderless and riven by internal feuds, just as the country faces its most momentous election in years, with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella from the far-right National Rally as the current favorites for the presidency. For now, it also looks highly improbable that such an inflammatory figure as Mélenchon can stop the far right if he qualifies for the second round of the presidential vote next year. While he describes French politics as an “us-against-them” battle on the extremes, and sees France Unbowed as the only party that can lead a “single front” against the far right, polling suggests the French electorate is extremely wary of him. If Mélenchon were to make it to a runoff in 2027, a poll in November suggested he would be smashed by Bardella. According to the survey by Odoxa, 74 percent would pick the National Rally leader for the Elysée. “It’s not at all certain that France Unbowed can widen its electorate to the [centrist] Macron-backing voters,” said Ipsos pollster Mathieu Gallard. French far-right Rassemblement National party’s President Jordan Bardella speaks after the first round of France’s 2026 municipal elections in Beaucaire, south-eastern France on March 15, 2026. | Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images “Mélenchon is a great political machine that mobilizes the left-wing electorate … but he is also a machine that scares away more moderate voters,” he said. DISARRAY ON THE LEFT Not everyone agrees that France Unbowed’s results on Sunday were as emphatic as Mélenchon is making them out to be. The center-left Socialist Party and its allies are still on track to hold onto many more cities and towns, including Marseille and Montpellier. And the hard left’s combative messaging has not been successful everywhere. “There are towns where their results are quite disappointing,” said pollster Gallard, pointing to suburbs in Paris and Lyon. But even if the hard left’s victories turn out to be less impressive on closer inspection, they are still sending shockwaves through the rest of the left. The Socialist Party, which has been hoping for a comeback after a decade of center-right politics under Macron, is the first and most obvious of Mélenchon’s victims. The moderate left very publicly condemned France Unbowed when Mélenchon refused to distance himself from the ultra-left group that was involved in the death of far-right activist Quentin Deranque. Shock then turned to horror last month when Mélenchon was accused of antisemitism after mocking the pronunciation of Jewish names and playing up the Jewishness of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Marine Le Pen (L) and Jordan Bardella arrive at the Hotel Matignon to attend a meeting of party leaders on the conflict in Iran, hosted by French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, in Paris on March 11, 2026. | Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images “He’s the Jean-Marie Le Pen of our times,” said Raphaël Glucksmann, a Jewish politician from the center left who was targeted by Mélenchon. Glucksmann was referring to Marine Le Pen’s father, who founded the National Front and downplayed the Holocaust. In the wake of Sunday’s results, Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure tried to hold the line against France Unbowed, pledging there would be no “national alliance.” But within hours the Socialists were striking deals at the local level, including in France’s third-largest city, Lyon.  “We’ll get attacked all week,” warned Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, a Socialist former lawmaker, who slammed the “lack of clarity” over the party’s position. “What we’ll win now, we’ll lose in the presidential election because we won’t be credible,” he said. In another sign of division, the Socialists and the Greens have also been at each other’s throats over whether to team up with France Unbowed. GAMING THE TWO-ROUND ELECTION For Mélenchon, such divisions are good news. Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, during a press conference in Lyon. France on March 10, 2026. | Albin Bonnard/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images After blowing up France’s traditional parties, President Emmanuel Macron has left a fragmented political landscape ahead of the 2027 presidential election, along with a weakened centrist coalition. With the French president unable to run for a third consecutive term, there’s a surplus of presidential hopefuls on the starting line. This could lower the threshold of votes needed to qualify for the runoff vote against the far right. Candidates such as Mélenchon, who have a dedicated and loyal voter base, may be able to pull past more consensual candidates who could cancel each other out. “That’s his strategy,” said a Socialist Party adviser who, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss party politics. “We are capable of taking a dive in elections, but France Unbowed never takes a dive, they never go under 10 percent” in national elections, the adviser said. “But there isn’t a scenario in which he wins in a runoff vote against Bardella.” The difficulty for the moderate left is compounded by the fact that Mélenchon is one of the most charismatic politicians on the left. He has even drawn the reluctant admiration of Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, who called him “the most cultured” politician around. But what’s true of the left is also to some extent true of the conservatives and the center right, which are enmeshed in internal squabbling to see who can assume Macron’s mantle. “What are the political offers on the table and who is there to embody them?” asked a close ally of the French president. “I can see what the extremes are offering, but in between, it’s really not clear,” he said. That’s a gap Mélenchon is trying to exploit.

The White House is pleading with allies to help secure the Strait of Hormuz — and privately assuring them that President Donald Trump is fine with high-level statements — as it pushes to calm financial markets, according to three European officials. The Trump administration is urging European and Asian allies to issue these public commitments by the end of the week, the officials said. The White House is less concerned about specific contributions at this stage, they added. All were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations. The move comes as Trump has been getting increasingly irate about allies not signing on to help keep ships moving through the vital waterway, posting on Truth Social on Tuesday: “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!” Even just a note of public support could help reassure increasingly dismayed investors, and perhaps give the Trump administration a framework of cooperation to build on later. Those who have spoken with Trump administration officials in recent days said it’s clear the White House values the market reaction most of all, according to two of the European officials. Asked for comment, the White House pointed to Trump’s criticism of allies in the Oval Office Tuesday. “I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake,” Trump told reporters during an appearance Tuesday beside Ireland’s leader in the Oval Office. “I’ve long said … I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this is a, this was a great test, because we don’t need them, but they should have been there.” Trump’s war with Iran has put many of America’s closest allies and partners in a difficult spot. Trump didn’t brief many of these countries about the operation ahead of time. Those that got advanced notice had hours or days, not weeks, to prepare to defend their infrastructure and people in the region. In Europe, committing ships to escort tankers through the strait would take away resources needed to help defend Ukraine against Russian attacks. In the Indo-Pacific, publicly backing a Hormuz security effort risks domestic backlash in countries where another Middle East conflict is unpopular, while also raising concerns about diverting already stretched naval resources from deterring China and protecting critical regional sea lanes. It would also take time for many countries to reroute ships or other assets to the Middle East. While many of Washington’s allies are keen to find a way to support Trump’s efforts, some want to sort out the details of their contributions before signing on to the effort, one of the European officials said. “Leaders are well aware that it’s a one-way street with him, that they can no longer count on the U.S. the way they used to. But most are looking to avoid a total rupture,” another one of the European officials said. “So despite the ironic twist here, they are weighing practical and political considerations, not emotional ones. If there is a lack of interest in what he’s asking, it’s because Europe is already stretched economically and with defending Ukraine. But there is also real concern about oil prices and what it would mean if the strait is shut down.” Trump repeated his earlier complaints on Tuesday that the U.K. had been too slow to accede to his requests to send two aircraft carriers to the Strait of Hormuz. But those aircraft carriers are located in far away theaters — such as near Australia — and would take weeks to get in place, should the U.K. bow to Trump’s request. Speaking alongside Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Europe must not be distracted by the Middle East. “Putin can’t be the one who benefits from the conflict in Iran, whether that’s oil prices or the dropping of sanctions,” Starmer said. “It is really important we keep our resolve in relation to supporting Ukraine, doing everything we can to weaken the hand of Putin.” Germany, Canada and Australia, meanwhile, have ruled out any military participation. France did the same on Tuesday, with President Emmanuel Macron saying France is “not a party to the conflict and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz” and would only participate in naval escorts “once the situation has calmed down.” Tokyo is “vigorously examining” whether the dispatch of escort vessels “is within the bounds of the law,” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Tuesday, per the Japan Times. That hesitation likely reflects the restrictions imposed by Japan’s post-war constitution, which forbid “armed troops to be dispatched to the land, sea, or airspace of other countries with the aim of using force.” Trump has flip-flopped publicly about how much the U.S. needs its allies to help protect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and has downplayed how much the shutdown of the channel affects America. Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s president, said Tuesday that his country was considering joining the U.S. effort to secure Hormuz. “We all have a responsibility to ensure the flow of trade, the flow of energy,” he said at an online event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. Some affected countries have talked about standing up their own operations to protect freedom of navigation when the conditions allow. European foreign ministers also met on Monday to discuss extending its Operation Aspides, which stood up last year to protect ships transiting the Red Sea amid Houthi attacks. At the same time, U.S. allies are seeking better information from Washington about what Trump and his team see as the endpoint for the war that began in late February. “Allies are still more in an, ‘Ok so, how’s it going, what’s your thinking mode. What are your assessments? We hear what you’re saying publicly on the aims, but what does success and the point you put the pencil down look like?’” the first European official said. Phelim Kine contributed to this report.