Macron calls snap French election and Belgian PM to resign after disastrous poll results
French President Emmanuel Macron has called a snap election after his party suffered calamitous results in EU elections – while in Belgium, poor general election results have led to its prime minister pledging his resignation.
Marine Le Pen’s hard right National Rally party won about 32% of the European Parliament vote in France – a 10 point increase on the last election in 2019.
It is more than double the less than 15% taken by Mr Macron’s centrist, pro-European Renaissance party, according to exit polls.
Mr Macron said he could not “pretend nothing had happened” and admitted the EU election was “no good” for his government.
The “rise of nationalists” is a danger to France and to Europe, he said.
Mr Macron is a “weakened president” said Jordan Bardella, National Rally’s lead candidate.
Across the border in Belgium, Alexander De Croo’s liberal party took less than 7% of the vote in the general election.
“This is a very difficult evening for us – we have lost,” Mr De Croo said.
“From tomorrow I will be the outgoing prime minister. But we liberals are strong, and we will be back.”
Mr Macron said France ‘needs a clear majority’ as he announced the snap election. Pic: Reuters
Meanwhile in Germany, Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats were also dealt a blow by voters as the scandal-hit Alternative for Germany party (AfD) leap-frogged them into second place.
Speaking at the Elysee Palace, Mr Macron said: “I’ve decided to give you back the choice of our parliamentary future through the vote.
“I am therefore dissolving the National Assembly.”
There will be two rounds of voting on 30 June and 7 July, he added.
“I have heard your message, your concerns, and I will not leave them unanswered,” Mr Macron said.
“France needs a clear majority in order to act with serenity and harmony.”
Jordan Bardella, National Rally’s lead candidate. Pic: AP
Ms Le Pen said her party was “ready to take over power if the French give us their trust in the upcoming national elections”.
She added: “We are ready to put the country back on its feet. We are ready to defend the interests of the French people. We are ready to put an end to mass immigration.”
Mr Macron appears to be “playing poker” and is taking “huge risks with the political future of his country”, French political scientist Dominique Moisi told Sky News.
The French president’s decision was a “total surprise”, Mr Moisi added.
“Nobody was expecting in France that the president would choose to dissolve the parliament a few weeks before the Olympic Games in France [and] a few days after the commemoration of D-Day on the Normandy beaches.”
Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, said Mr Macron had “no choice” about dissolving parliament.
“This is a lesson for us,” he added.
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Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella at National Rally meeting. Pic: Reuters
A similar move to the right is under way in Germany too, the EU’s most populous nation.
AfD, its top candidate hounded by scandal after telling Italian newspaper La Repubblica that the SS, the Nazis’ main paramilitary force, were “not all criminals”, swept past the struggling Social Democrats, and into second place with 16.5% of the vote – up from 11% in 2019.
Mr Scholz’s long-standing Social Democrats now sit third after the vote and AfD’s gains appear to have come from young people in particular.
Co-leader Alice Weidel said her party had done well because “people have become more anti-European”.
She added: “People are annoyed by so much bureaucracy from Brussels.”
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The centre-right Christian Democratic bloc of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dominated in Germany with almost 30%.
In Italy, Brothers of Italy, the party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, strengthened their hand and won between 26-30% of the vote, state broadcaster RAI said, with the centre-left PD party on 21-25%.
It appears to have been a disappointing election for green parties.
In Germany, they are predicted to fall from 20% to 12%, while further losses are expected in France and several other EU nations.
Some 373 million Europeans across all 27 EU countries were eligible to vote – and they have elected 720 representatives.
Overall, the liberal and socialist parties retained their majority in the 720-seat parliament but the vote raised serious questions about how the European Union’s major powers can continue to drive policy.
Members take their seats in mid-July.
World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
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GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Do Trump and Netanyahu really get along?
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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