Pesic: In the National Rally, Serbia has more friendly-inclined politicians

The President of the association "All Serbs in Paris," Sasa Pesic, ahead of tomorrow's first round of the extraordinary parliamentary elections in France, says that if the right-wing, as predicted, receives a significant number of votes and has the prime minister, it will affect internal politics more than foreign policy in France, considering that the parliament has no influence on foreign policy. However, he emphasizes that in the National Rally, Serbia can have much greater support than is the case with President Emmanuel Macron's party.

Serbia, as he states, generally has good relations with France, and in recent years, these relations have been getting stronger, especially in the economy.

"Emmanuel Macron, since he came to power, seems to have done nothing significant to improve the position of Serbs in Kosovo and the Serbian issue concerning Kosovo and Metohija. As for the National Rally, there may be more brave and more friendly-inclined politicians there. Members of the National Rally in the European Parliament have spoken about the very difficult position of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, such as Thierry Mariani and Jean-Lin Lacapelle, so generally, Serbs can certainly have much greater support in the National Rally than is the case with Emmanuel Macron and his party," Pesic told Kosovo Online.

He, however, notes that the French parliament has no influence on foreign policy but that significant pressure concerning the adoption of some serious foreign policy decisions is to be expected.

"According to the French Constitution, the president appoints the prime minister, and on the proposal of the prime minister, he appoints ministers. So, if the National Rally wins and gets a majority in the Assembly, this would be additional pressure on Macron, who has stated that he wants to stay in power until 2027. Regarding foreign policy related to Kosovo and Metohija, it is certain that the French president and ministers would be under pressure, but they will continue to make decisions they believe are good for France. They will certainly have to discuss certain issues with, as the polls here indicate, the future Prime Minister Jordan Bardella and people from the National Rally," Pesic says.

Regarding the latest estimates of citizens' preferences, he states that the National Rally Party has 36 percent.

"Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally and the second in command after Marine Le Pen, has said that he will not accept the position of Prime Minister of France if he does not have an absolute majority. All center-left parties and ecologists have united in the People's Front coalition, and they will run together, with predictions that they have about 25 percent of the voters, while President Macron's Renaissance party is at about 15 percent. The interest of the French to go to the polls and vote is incredibly high," Pesic emphasizes.

The right-wing party National Rally, he notes, received significant voter support when it stopped focusing solely on immigration and included economic issues in its program, addressing the concerns of ordinary people. Their success in the European Parliament elections in France, according to Pesic, was expected due to everything that has happened in France in recent years and the way Emmanuel Macron has governed.

"Although he is an extremely brave president, perhaps one of the bravest in recent French history, his policy has been somewhat arrogant towards the French people, who have in this way, with a record success of the right in the European elections, somewhat punished him. He faced many crises, such as the yellow vests, pension reform, farmers' protests, and last year's large protests by part of the population from immigrant backgrounds following the police killing of a boy. So, this was a normal sequence of events because the ruling party in France is increasingly losing popularity. Macron made an unexpected and brave move to call parliamentary elections at a time when his party and his surroundings are slowly losing power in France," Pesic notes.

He recalls that one of the members of the National Rally in the European Parliament is Aleksandar Nikolic, and that from the same party, following the parliamentary elections in France, it is likely that Andreja Kotarac, also of Serbian origin, will enter the new EP composition.

"Some European MPs will probably be elected as deputies in the French parliament, which will free up a place for Kotarac to also become one of the members of the European Parliament," our interlocutor notes.

He points out that in France, there is great anticipation for the US elections and that it is expected that in the event of Donald Trump's victory, France would pursue a more sovereign foreign policy, which is currently quite tied to the US.