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After France’s parliamentary elections, can Macron govern at home and lead abroad?

French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) leader and Member of Parliament Marine Le Pen is escorted by France's President Emmanuel Macron after talks at the presidential Elysee Palace, France, June 21, 2022. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

In France’s recent parliamentary elections, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party lost its National Assembly majority, while a leftist alliance of parties and Marine Le Pen’s far-right party made significant gains. Célia Belin, interim director of the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings, discusses how these results happened after Macron’s victory in the presidential contest, what they mean for governance in France, and how they may impact President Macron’s pursuit of a multilateralist foreign policy.