Dimitris Koutsoumbas speaks at an election rally in Athens, June 5 -- image via the KKE on X
In the recent European elections the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) saw its vote increase to 9.25% and it did particularly well in working-class areas.
In some countries, notably in France, the far right did very well. In the case of France the strong performance of the National Rally of Marine Le Pen pushed French President Emmanuel Macron to call snap elections for the National Assembly.
The threat of the far right also prompted the formation of a new Popular Front that includes the Socialist Party, the French Communist Party (PCF), the Ecologists (Greens), and Jean Luc Mélenchon's La France Insoumise as well as some smaller parties.
The Popular Front is not without its left critics in France and when asked about it on a radio show Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE had the following to say:
Let me briefly mention two facts that are also linked to historical experience. For at least the last 20 years, various fronts have been made ostensibly to confront the far right, which is, of course, constantly growing stronger. There is evidence of this, because the so-called left parties in Europe have whitewashed anti-popular policies. That was also the case with Chirac, Sarkozy, Hollande, Macron and others —some of whom were also invited to Greece by Mr. Tsipras. They have left room for far-right forces to present themselves as supposedly anti-systemic when they are not, because they are implementing EU policies.
A second important fact is the content of this policy, of the New Popular Front itself, because it is presented as a solution, also by some people here in Greece, who are calling for “a front against the right and the far right”. This content is also reflected in the candidates. You will have seen that Hollande, whose government led the anti-popular plans to undermine collective agreements and extend flexible forms of employment, is a candidate in France. France is also taking a leading role outside its borders, in a series of EU and NATO interventions and wars.
And, of course, none of the positions of this so-called progressive New Popular Front seem to question the fundamental choices of the EU, the ‘green transition’, the fiscal rules, the Recovery Fund, etc. Not to mention the fact that on the war in Ukraine, which is the main point on which Le Pen is demagoguing and winning people over, this ‘progressive rallying force’, the New Popular Front in France, is committed to ensuring that the necessary weapons are sent to Kiev. In fact, Raphaël Glucksman, the new leader of the Socialist Party, as you will have seen, is criticizing Macron for not sending enough weapons to this massacre in Ukraine.
One cannot help but wonder which party is far-right and which is centre-left.