French President Emmanuel Macron is turning up the heat on his lieutenants ahead of the European election as the far-right National Rally continues to build on its seemingly unstoppable momentum.

Macron’s game plan ahead of the EU election for tackling the National Rally’s unrelenting rise was to dramatize the fight against the far-right party, emphasizing the clash of ideologies and the Russian threat, according to several French officials. The twin aim was to beat abstention and mobilize Macron’s own voters, and also dissuade voters from turning to rival pro-European candidates such as the Socialist Raphaël Glucksmann and the ecologists.

But several weeks into the campaign, the strategy has failed to deliver, according to recent polls, and alarm bells are starting to ring. A recent study by IFOP put the far right, led by National Rally President Jordan Bardella, at 30 percent of the vote vs. 21 percent for Macron’s Renew coalition, with Glucksmann polling at 11 percent.

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