Historic victory of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: reactions from French political figures

The historic victory of the German far right in the Land of Saxony-Anhalt this Sunday caused political figures in France to react. First among them, the Insoumis candidate for the French presidential election Jean-Luc Mélenchon found an explanation for this rise of the AfD.

“Catastrophic demonstration of the blindness of centrist European policies. This disaster is their result. Under these conditions, the German military project to create the first conventional army in Europe is unacceptable for France,” reacted the leader of La France insoumise (LFI) on X.

A “terrible record for the EU and its treaties”

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-migrant, Russophile and pro-Trump group, claimed a large victory in this former GDR Land, inflicting a snub on conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Another reaction from a candidate, declared this Sunday, within the French left, the national secretary of the Communist Party Fabien Roussel spoke on the same network of a “terrible record for the EU and its treaties”, calling for them to “change”. “Across Europe, the far right is gaining ground with its hate agenda. It thrives on poverty, deindustrialization, the escalation of war,” he lamented.

A “real alarm signal” for Attal

Another presidential candidate, the leader of the Renaissance presidential party, Gabriel Attal, described this result as a “real alarm signal”, calling for “learning lessons” from it on BFMTV.

He notably affirmed that “the barrier against the extreme right” could no longer be “a political project sufficient for you to have a majority of voters who come to join it”. “We need to bring a vision, concrete measures”, and “reinvent the model” to “regain control in a changing world”, he added.

Zemmour exults, the RN kicks in

The leader of the far-right Reconquest party, Éric Zemmour, spoke to him about “the moment of truth”. “We will blame the voters. The real culprits are those who, for half a century, treated as a crime what people felt was obvious: the desire to remain themselves,” explained the man who has not yet confirmed his candidacy for the presidential election.

Leaders of the National Rally, favorite in the polls in France, had not reacted to this result early Sunday evening. The RN has broken in recent years with the AfD, its former partner.

Asked on Saturday during the Cernobbio forum in Italy about the possibility of seeing the RN reconnect with the AfD in the event of a breakthrough by the first opposition party in Germany, party president Jordan Bardella affirmed that this was “not planned”.

“A number of disagreements have led us to distance ourselves from the AfD,” he said. “I note, however, that the electoral pressure exerted by the AfD in Germany contributed to moving the lines within the government of Friedrich Merz, since Germany reestablished controls at its borders a few months ago.”