Stefano Palombarini is assistant professor of economics at the University of Paris VIII. He is co-author, together with Bruno Amable, of The Last Neoliberal: Macron and the Origins of France's Political Crisis.
Emmanuel Macron’s coalition, drawing on both center-left and center-right politicians, was a perfect embodiment of the neoliberal project. Unable to deliver prosperity for wider layers of French people, it has driven the political system into turmoil.
This fall’s Italian elections saw voters punish the incumbent parties of government yet again. But behind the upheaval in the party system is a narrowing of real political choice, as working-class interests struggle to find electoral expression.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s left-wing coalition is neck and neck with Emmanuel Macron’s party in polls for today’s French parliamentary elections. The coalition’s victory would shake the neoliberal order in France and across the European Union.
France’s once mighty Socialist Party is polling at just 1 percent for today’s presidential election. With middle-class progressivism in a tailspin, only France Insoumise’s firm break with neoliberalism offers a path to recovery for the French left.
Thursday’s Eurogroup agreement promised Italy loans to deal with the health care costs of coronavirus — but refused to help it stave off economic catastrophe. EU leaders have once again put neoliberal dogmas above the welfare of ordinary citizens — further undermining Italians’ once-dogged pro-Europeanism.