The UK Prime Minister may have the regal touch in northern England, but he’s been wrong-footed on the constitutional challenges posed by the Celtic Alliance of first ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, argues KENNY MacASKILL
ON Thursday September 5 Emmanuel Macron, having first gained the support of Marine Le Pen, appointed as prime minister Michel Barnier from the right-wing Republican Party (which came in fourth place in the elections and constitutes the smallest bloc in the Assembly).
For the New Popular Front Jean-Luc Melenchon said that the elections had been “stolen” and that France would see a “Macron-Le Pen” government imposed, and the Communists called for mass New Popular Front mobilisation against this anti-democratic coup.
While Italy’s communist tradition remains fragmented and politically marginal, France’s party is attempting to re-establish itself as an independent force rooted in working-class organisation, says NICK WRIGHT
While millions face poverty and public services are squeezed, France is committing billions to defence spending and weapons production, in a dangerous shift towards permanent preparation for war, says CONOR BOLLINS
DENNIS BROE gives an update on the last week of anti-austerity protests against the Macron regime, which has seen the supposedly more right-leaning Gilets Jaunes join with the unions and the left


