France, far-right achieves historic victory in parliament—but only symbolic

Brussels – Yet another political shock in France. For the first time in history, the extreme right-wing Rassemblement national (RN) has managed to get its own motion passed by parliament, albeit by the skin of its teeth. By 185 votes to 184, the Assemblée Nationale adopted this morning (30 October) the text of a non-binding resolution denouncing the 1968 agreement with Algeria, which, for the French conservative forces, is
like a red rag to a bull. 

“A day that can be described as historic for the RN,” jubilantly commented the party’s chief whip and long-time leader, Marine Le Pen, following the vote. Indeed, not since the Cinquième République was founded in 1958, and not since the RN itself was founded (in 1972 by Marine’s father, Jean-Marie, under the name Front national), has a parliamentary motion from this political formation obtained the votes necessary to be adopted by the chamber.

Where were the Macronists? G Attal absent! By 1 vote Horizon (E Philippe), LR and the far right vote together to end the 1968 agreement with Algeria. pic.twitter.com/psYxNZW4he

– Olivier Faure (@faureolivier) October 30, 2025

“Where were the Macronists?” asked the Parti socialiste (PS) secretary Olivier Faure provocatively, furious at the alignment of part of President Emmanuel Macron‘s centrist coalition with the far right of Le Pen and Éric Ciotti. The support of some parts of the presidential Ensemble pour la République (EPRL) platform—especially 17 deputies from Horizons, the party of former premier Édouard Philippe—was instrumental in securing approval of the text. 26 neo-Gaullist conservatives from the Républicains (LR) present at the session also supported the Le Penists’ motion. 

Absences did the rest. There were 53 absentees in the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), the alliance of the left (those present, 143 out of 196, all voted against), and 52 in the Parliamentary group of EPRL, from which only 30 votes against came (the remaining 10 abstained or did not participate in the vote). In the end, 203 votes were not received out of 577 seats in the Assemblée. 

The subject of the vote was the agreement concluded in 1968 between Paris and Algiers, a few years after the bloody Algerian war of independence, which, among other things, facilitates entry, movement, and residence in France for citizens of the North African country. Measures seen as excessively permissive by the right-of-centre political forces, which, with today’s vote, are calling on the government to tear up the post-colonial treaty. Several Macronist premiers had criticised the agreement in past years.

Now, although the motion was non-binding and does not automatically commit the executive of Sébastien Lecornu (busy finalising the budget law for 2026) to rescind the agreement, today’s vote nevertheless sets a symbolic precedent of first importance for French politics. Commentators are wondering in these hours about the cordon sanitaire against the ultra-right, which now seems to have evaporated, dismantled by the moderate centre-right parties (sic) to collaborate with the radical right as the latter gains ever greater support. 

Cordon sanitaire or not, today’s is also yet another confirmation that the season of political Macronism, inaugurated in 2017 when Monsieur le Président first landed at the Elysée Palace, has irrevocably come to an end. 

Macron’s strategy—to make left and right obsolete, focusing on the rebirth of the liberal “grand centre”—has run up against the megalomania of a leader who has plunged the country into the  worst political crisis of recent decades, refusing to acknowledge his responsibilities and clinging to his remaining power. His approval rating has been in free fall since before his re-election in 2022, and, according to some surveys, it has now plummeted to 11 per cent, a negative record shared with his “mentor” François Hollande.