How Eurosceptics seized power over the French left

In Britain it was the Tories who tore themselves apart over Europe, but in France it is the left for whom Brussels has long been a battleground.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the de facto leader of the French left following his impressive performance in last month’s presidential election, is an unabashed Eurosceptic, as are most in his La France Insoumise (LFI). The Socialist Party, on the other hand, share Emmanuel Macron’s view that Europe is the future and if France must sacrifice some of its sovereignty in the pursuit of closer integration then so be it.

The former Socialist president François Hollande embodies the Europhile left and he is aghast at the prospect of any kind of coalition between his party and Mélenchon’s ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections. In an interview last week, Hollande described the prospect of any alliance with LFI as ‘unacceptable’, explaining that ‘it would mean that the next government would call into question European treaties’.