ABSTRACT
Only time will reveal the significance of the year 2017 for France’s relationship with the European Union (EU). Perhaps when viewed from the unforeseeable future, 2017 will appear as another decisive moment in France’s history as an EU member state. The most significant issues for France’s electorate in 2017 were security, migration and the economy. ‘Europe’ functioned largely as a proxy for deeper challenges of domestic politics, including widespread support for a renewal of the political class and a desire for le degagisme entirely. The question of Europe, and specifically the EU, was electorally significant in the 2017 French presidential elections, as was the case in 2012. Macron’s election as president and that of his party, La Republique en Marche, in the 2017 parliamentary elections came against the backdrop of ever-higher abstention levels, and spoilt and blank ballot papers, at both the presidential and the parliamentary elections.
