Explainer-How France's political alliances are shaping up and the policies they pledge

Marine Tondelier, National Secretary of Les Ecologistes (The Ecologists - Greens) party, Fabien Roussel, National Secretary of French Communist Party (PCF), Olivier Faure, First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the operational team of the French far-left opposition party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed - LFI), Yannick Jadot of the Greens and Mathilde Panot of LFI pose for a family photo with left-wing politicians and supporters after a news conference by the alliance of left-wing parties, called the "Nouveau Front Populaire" (New Popular Front) to present the program for their joint candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections, in Paris, France, June 14, 2024. /Stephane Mahe

PARIS - France's political parties have scrambled to form political alliances after President Emmanuel Macron's surprise move to call a parliamentary election.

From the far right to the hard left, here is how those alliances are shaping up and the early campaign pledges they are making ahead of the June 30 and July 7 ballot:

FAR RIGHT

Opinion polls have shown Marine Le Pen's eurosceptic nationalist National Rally party could comfortably win the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, but may fall short of an absolute majority.

The RN has struck a pact with Eric Ciotti, who led the conservative Republicans until he was ejected from the party this week by its executive committee for deal-making with the far right.

Ciotti has said he will deliver dozens of lawmakers to a hard right alliance. His outreach to Le Pen is a strong sign that a decades-old consensus among mainstream parties to join forces to keep the far right out of power is falling apart.

The National Rally has been light on manifesto details so far but has pledged to:

*Shore up household spending power

*Reduce power costs, cut VAT on gas, petrol and domestic oil

*Improve public health access in rural areas

*Reduce illegal immigration, expel foreign criminals

THE LEFT

Political parties representing the left-wing have already agreed to form a "Popular Front". The alliance includes the centre-left Socialist Party, the Greens, the hard-left France Unbowed and the Communist Party of France.

The parties had aligned during the last parliamentary election campaign in 2022 but infighting over leadership and policies dogged their time in opposition and led to the alliance's de facto collapse.

The bloc was re-born and re-branded this week after four days of hard-fought negotiations.

The Popular Front's headline policy pledges include:

*Scrap pension reform, cut target retirement age to 60

*Link pay rises to inflation

*Raise minimum wage to 1,600 euros a month net

*Impose a wealth tax, overhaul inheritance tax

*Impose a tax on imported goods based on distance

*Abolish Macron's reforms on welfare benefits

MACRON'S CENTRE

In the political centre, Macron has urged moderate parties to join his electoral alliance against political extremes on the right and left.

The president described Ciotti's pact with the far right as a "deal with the devil". The far right's policies would impoverish workers and retirees, Macron said.

Macron's finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, has warned that the euro zone's second-biggest economy faces the risk of a financial crisis if either the far right or a left-wing alliance wins the election because of their heavy spending plans.

Macron has called for a ruling alliance that:

*Continues to deliver job creation

*Resists runaway public spending

*Deals more firmly with juvenile criminality

*Launches a debate on the role of religion in society

Source: Reuters