COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the political situation in France (spring–summer 2020)

This article analyzes the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the political situation in France during spring and summer of 2020. Press is the main historical source used in the present study. Authors explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the attitude and rhetoric of the leading French political parties. The present article deals with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the pace of reforms projected by the French president E. Macron in 2017. This study also analyzes the French society's increased attention to supplying the population with remedies (masks) and the impact of this factor on the contents of French political debates and discussions in 2020. Besides it, the present article explores a number of aspects of different French political parties' reaction on E. Macron's political line during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study claims that some disagreement arose among the members of the presidential majority in the French parliament. The present article also studies the role of the COVID-19 pandemic's factor in the formation of the French municipal elections' results and change of the government in France in 2020. This paper provides the examples revealing the reaction of different French political forces on J. Castex' nomination for the post of Prime Minister. The present article mentions certain peculiarities of French right, left and centrist parties' position after the municipal elections of 2020 and certain phenomena capable of influencing considerably the European integration processes in the circumstances. According to this paper's conclusion, French society's perception of E. Macron's policy during the COVID-19 pandemic will be able to influence considerably the results of presidential and parliamentary elections of 2022.