France is in turmoil. Will the Olympics be okay?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2024
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
Last week, France was preparing for the possibility of its first far-right government since World War II. Now, it faces a political crossroads, just weeks before the Olympics kick off in Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron shocked the nation last month when he dissolved Parliament and announced snap elections, hoping to win more seats for his centrist party. But after the first round of elections last week, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally made historic gains and seemed poised to secure a large victory in the runoff.
Instead, the leftist Popular Front came out on top in Sunday night’s elections after forming an alliance with Macron’s centrists. However, no party secured an absolute majority of seats, leaving the country uncertain of what party will lead it.
Today on “Post Reports,” host Martine Powers speaks with international correspondent Rick Noack about what these election results spell for France’s long-term future and global standing, and how that might impact Paris’s readiness to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick and Ali Bianco. It was edited by Ted Muldoon and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Marisa Bellack.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Martin. |
| 0:05.0 | Before we get going with today's show, I have a quick note. |
| 0:10.0 | So we're getting into that part of the election season where there's just a lot of news. |
| 0:16.0 | And of course that has felt particularly acute now with President Biden's campaign |
| 0:21.0 | and the continued questions about the future of his candidacy. |
| 0:26.4 | We are not covering that on today's post reports. |
| 0:29.7 | But our politics podcast, The Campaign Moment, has cooked up a fresh episode out today on all the |
| 0:36.2 | latest, including the House Democrats now publicly and privately calling for the President |
| 0:41.5 | to step aside. |
| 0:43.1 | My colleague Aaron Blake has a fascinating in-depth conversation with White House reporter |
| 0:48.0 | Matt Pfizer, who's been behind the scenes with a very frustrated President Biden during the last few days of his immediate |
| 0:55.0 | blitz. You are definitely going to want to take a listen to that conversation. |
| 0:58.8 | So right now find the campaign moment in your podcast app, hit follow and look out for that episode. |
| 1:06.0 | All right, now let's start today's post reports. So Rick Nowak, I don't think I have to tell you that things here in the states have been a little crazy and politically complicated of late, |
| 1:27.1 | but it sounds like the same is true over there in France. |
| 1:31.7 | Not only is a country about to host the Summer Olympics, but there was also a huge |
| 1:36.2 | election over the weekend. So as one of our correspondence currently based in Paris, what is your sense of the mood right now? |
| 1:43.4 | Well this summer was always expected to be turbulent in France. The country was |
| 1:49.8 | preparing to host the Olympics. That was always going to be difficult. |
| 1:54.8 | But then last month, President Emmanuel Macron really surprised, |
| 1:59.8 | I'd say everyone, including some of his closest allies, when he called SNAP legislative elections. |
| 2:06.0 | I decided to you to redeem the choice of our really been the matter, |
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