France's president makes it snap decision as his party crackles under

populist pressure. See what I did there? Hello, I'm Leanna Byrne and this is the

marketplace morning report and we are live from the BBC World Service. Good morning. A in the European Union elections this weekend.

Voters across the EU have been choosing members of the European Parliament

and the far right gained significant ground in several countries.

Let's talk to the BBC Mark Lone about this.

Hi Mark. Hi there Leanna.

Mark let's talk about the political context of this first.

Before we get into the economics, the election results across Europe and the snap election as well in France. The election

as well in France, it's all a bit of a shock, isn't it?

It's a shock, certainly in France.

I mean, Emmander-Arron's decision to dissolve Parliament, to call fresh parliamentary elections is a huge gamble for him.

In a sense I think he's trying to sort of throw down the gauntlet to the far right, to the

national rally of Marin Le Pen Pen and this young co-leader

Jordan Bardella to say you know you've done well in the European elections but

that is in a sense could be a you know it could have been an opportunity for

voters to give us a kicking and now you've got to show whether or not you're going to get the

votes in the parliamentary elections so you know I think the overall story of the night is the center right came out on top across the European Union

But there have been gains for the far right in several countries. I mean we've been getting a sense of this for a while now but is that swing to the far right mainly a reaction to the economic situation a lot of Europeans are facing?

I think to some extent it is you know you've got countries where the cost of living has just

absolutely rocketed, you know, over the last few years, post-Covid and with, you know, gas prices after

that with Russia's invasion of the war of Ukraine etc.

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