June 9 (UPI) — French President Emanuel Macron Sunday called a snap election after his own party suffered a big defeat in elections for the European Parliament Sunday, and that he was dissolving the National Assembly.
“I’ve decided to give you back the choice of our parliamentary future through the vote. I am therefore dissolving the National Assembly,” Macron said in an address to the nation from the Elysee presidential palace,
The vote is scheduled to take place on June 30 and July 7, he said.
The leader of France’s far right movement, Marine Le Pen, said the group is “ready to take power,” in the snap parliamentary election.
Speaking after Macron’s announcement, Le Pen ran unsuccessfully for the French presidency in 2022, and said she could “not but welcome” the move to dissolve the parliament.
“We are ready to take power if the French place their trust in us,” Le Pen, who is the parliamentary leader of the far-right National Rally party, said.
Macron’s announcement was somewhat of a surprise to observers, and came in response to the outcome of elections Europe-wide on Sunday.
Exit polls showed gains for far-right parties in Germany and Austria, with voting still ongoing in several of the EU’s 27 member states, according to CNN
However, the leader of the broader European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, said the group would resist any large-scale influence of ultra-right groups in Europe.
The European People’s Party is among the founding fathers and mothers of today’s European Union,” Weber said.
“We created today’s Europe and that’s why all those who want to destroy our Europe are our enemies and we will fight against them. We will not allow them to have any kind of influence on the European level,” Weber said.
The head of the center-right party Les Republicains, Eric Ciotti, also welcomed the news of Macron’s snap election, calling it the “only solution” after the results of the European elections, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.