At a European festival drawing an audience of young Germans in Dresden, French President Emmanuel Macron took advantage of the second day of his state visit to Germany, on Monday, May 27, to call for mobilizing against the far right. The popular gathering had the feel of an election rally. "An ill wind is blowing across Europe, so let's wake up!" he exclaimed. It was another way for him to get involved in the European election campaign, from abroad, at a time when the ruling coalition has been lagging far behind Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN) in the polls, less than two weeks before the June 9 vote.

The previous day in Berlin, the French president had barely shaken the welcoming hand of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a Social Democrat, before he started setting the tone: "As a defender of Europe, I consider it my particular responsibility to engage in the European debate, even as president, to expose the thinking of the Rassemblement National," Macron said, speaking on the grounds of the Bellevue Palace, his host's residence, at the start of this first state visit by a French president since Jacques Chirac's visit 24 years ago.

If the RN and its allies had been in power across Europe over the last five years, "we wouldn't have had the [Covid-19] vaccine, we wouldn't have had a European recovery plan, we wouldn't have been able to respond to the migratory challenges in Europe, we wouldn't have had a European Green Deal or a capacity to manage decarbonization," said the French president. "We would have abandoned Ukraine to back Russia, which is supported by all the nationalists in our countries. And so the story would not have been the same," he said.

Alongside Steinmeier, Macron paid his respects on Monday morning to the black marble steles of the Holocaust memorial, erected after Germany's reunification on the site of the former Berlin Wall, near the Brandenburg Gate. Shortly afterward, at the nearby French Embassy, Macron decorated Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, who dedicated their lives to tracking down Nazi criminals. "The right remembrance [is] one that also enables us to remain vigilant in the face of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and xenophobia," he said emphatically, praising the couple's commitment to combating anti-Semitism against the backdrop of Hamas attacks on Israel. But there was no mention of the Klarsfelds' recent support for the RN, even though they had long opposed the Front National, the RN's predecessor, founded by Marine Le Pen's father Jean-Marie Le Pen.

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