Concerns Grow in French Art and Culture Sector as Far-Right Victory

On Sunday, France will hold parliamentary elections in the second round of early parliamentary elections, with the far-right National Rally (RN) party expected to emerge victorious.

With less than 48 hours to go before polls open, polls predict RN will win between 200 and 230 seats in the 599-seat lower house of the French National Assembly.

This will not give the party an absolute majority, but it could result in 28-year-old party leader Jordan Bardella becoming prime minister with the support of party leader Marine Le Pen.

Emmanuel Macron, who called the election in response to significant far-right gains in European Parliament elections in mid-June, has said he will remain as president until the end of his term in May 2027, though it is unclear how much power he would have if a majority government is formed in Montenegro.

The prospect of the RN taking political control weighs on the country’s traditionally leftist arts and culture sector. Culture is a key driver of the French economy, and the sector fears that a RN victory would lead to cuts and would also hit diversity and freedom of expression.

In a speech in late June outlining his party’s priorities, Bardella made little mention of culture, focusing instead on planned anti-immigration and public order initiatives.

However, in other interviews he has spoken openly of his ambitions to liquidate public stations France Télévisions and Radio France, which he says would save $3.2 billion (€3 billion).

The Union of Independent Producers of France (SPI) warned in a statement that such a move would put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.

Spi suggested that in addition to direct job losses, some 300,000 wage bills are linked to the public broadcasting sector, a higher figure than the fishing and pharmaceutical industries, which are estimated to account for 273,000 and 100,000 jobs respectively.

Cultural experts reject Bardella’s claims of savings and say RN’s plans to sell public television channels are more of a ploy to gain control over public discourse.

In this context, it examines the role that Vivendi-owned media outlets such as Le Journal du Dimanche (LeJDD), Europe 1 and CNews, considered the French Fox News, have played in shaping the country’s current political trends.

There has been much talk about whether the well-known conservative tycoon Vincent Bolloré, who officially stepped down as Vivendi chief in 2022, is still pulling strings at these outlets to promote a right-wing agenda, and he has repeatedly denied any interference.

In late June, French audiovisual regulator Arcom issued a warning to radio station Europe 1, criticising it for a lack of honesty and political pluralism in the talk show of controversial presenter Cyril Hanouna.

The notice indicated that 16 of the 29 political guests between 17 and 25 June were associated with far-right parties.

Hanouna, who has a reputation for mocking centrist and leftist politicians on live television and radio shows, responded by saying that guests from all sides of the political spectrum had been invited to the show but that many had not responded.

Another serious problem is that the RN intends to eliminate or reduce the scope of the national employment program Intermittence du Spectacle.

A contributory system that provides a steady income for arts and entertainment workers on temporary contracts underpins many activities in the sectors, from film production to live entertainment.

The party is also expected to attempt to place its supporters in key positions in the sector or influence the boards of independent bodies such as Arcom through political appointees.

A direct testing ground could be the National Cinema Centre (CNC), which was left without a president last week when Dominique Boutonnat resigned after being found guilty of sexual assault.

There have also been suggestions that the RN’s obsession with heritage (patrimoine) will lead to funds being diverted towards restoring historic buildings and reviving folkloric traditions, rather than towards living and breathing contemporary art and culture.

“Culture is completely absent from the agenda of the far right, yet it is the first victim when it comes to power,” said an open letter initiated by the film association L’ARP and published on the website of the Le Monde newspaper on June 23.

The letter brought together 50 organisations representing the arts and culture sector. So far, over 1,300 professionals from across the sector have signed the letter, from anonymous bookstore owners to actors and directors such as Gilles Lellouche, Bertrand Bonello and Cédric Klapisch.

The statement drew attention to what happened to art and culture in Hungary and Italy under the rule of far-right Prime Ministers Viktor Orbàn and Giorgia Meloni.

“Italy and Hungary, once major players in the cultural field, have set an example,” we read.

After Orbán’s Fidesz party won in 2010, his government radically downsized state media, bringing them under the wing of the MTVA and laying off 1,600 employees.

At the same time, she took control of the media council, which stopped the renewal of licenses of independent radio stations and TV channels that did not support Orbán’s right-wing program.

France led the way in 1959 by creating one of the world’s first ministries of culture. Art and culture have been at the heart of government policy ever since, regardless of the political persuasion of the ruling party.

Over the next 65 years, a sophisticated ecosystem of subsidies and support has developed that is the envy of creators across Europe and beyond.

The French Culture Ministry has benefited from a 6 percent increase in its budget for 2024 to $12.9 billion (€11 billion), with $4.7 billion earmarked for culture and media missions and $4.3 billion originally earmarked for the public audiovisual sector.

The arts and culture sector directly employs around 600,000 people and generates over USD 100 billion in revenue annually, excluding the value added to the economy, which is twice as large as the value generated by the automotive industry.

“France has long been a country associated with culture and the defense of human rights, but today it is starting to resemble Pétain’s France,” says one film industry professional, referring to the leader of the authoritarian Vichy regime that controlled southeastern France during World War II in collaboration with Nazi Germany.

The origins of the RN date back to the National Party founded in 1972 by Marie Le Pen. Co-founders included Vichy Milice fighter François Brigneau and Pierre Bousquet, a member of the French SS Division.

In the face of these facts, arts and culture professionals are keeping their fingers crossed that RN will win fewer seats than forecast and that the left-wing New Popular Front alliance and the centrist presidential bloc Ensemble will find a way to work together to moderate their more extreme right-wing policies.

If that doesn’t happen, they fear the vicious cycle that has long made culture core to the country’s identity could be broken for the first time since 1959.