Welcome to Hard Talk from the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker. I'm in Paris at the

K d'Orsay, the grand building on the banks of the River Seine, which houses the French

foreign ministry, and the office of my guest, Jean-Nuel Barreau, France's Minister for Europe.

This is an interview recorded on June the 12th.

Mr. Barreau is a centrist politician typical of the Macron era,

a youthful technocrat wielding significant power.

But for how much longer?

President Macron just sent shockwaves through French politics by calling a snap

parliamentary election. The first round will be at the end of the month, the decisive second round

a week later. Now, the catalyst for this jaw-dropping decision, European election results,

which saw Marine Le Pen's far-right party win more than double the votes

and seats of Macron's centrist movement. The president's response was to tell the French public

they must decide whether to give parliamentary control to what he labels far-right extremists, or consolidate the power of those he claims to be

the guardians of French and European values. The outcome will have huge repercussions, not just

in France, but across Europe. Is this a gamble President Macron will come to bitterly regret? Well, Jean-Nuel Barreau joins me now.

Welcome to Hard Talk. Thank you. How surprised were you by Emmanuel Macron's pretty extraordinary

decision to call a snap election? Well, obviously, I was surprised because it's a very unique way to take a democratic

decision when the political situation in a given country is so severe that it basically

limits the ability of the country to act for itself.

There are very few leaders in this world that would take such a democratic decision in the face of such important choices.

Such a democratic decision, you say, many French people, including people very close to

Emmanuel Macron, would call it an almost crazy gamble.

...