Scientists in France have expressed relief that the right -wing extremist party was defeated nationally (marginal) in yesterday's parliamentary elections. However, the absence of a clear winner is an uncertainty for scientists, and many do not believe that the new government will make a positive contribution to research and higher education.

The RN was acted as a favorite after winning the first round of the election on June 30, and scientists feared that this could mean cuts in research budgets, restrictions on immigration and the introduction of a broad climate skepticism to the French National Assembly. But yesterday the party surprisingly took third place in the runoff voting, behind which the left Nouveau Parti Populaire (NPF) and the Center Ensemble-an alliance that President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party included. None of the two leading groups won an absolute majority, and they now have to conduct negotiations to form a government.

"We avoided a disaster," says the immunologist and president of the French Academy of Sciences Alain Fischer. "It can now be hoped that international scientists will continue to work in France." But it is unclear whether the result is really a victory for the researchers, he adds. "We do not know who will rule, but I don't expect major changes in politics for us. Science and education were absent in the European and French parliamentary election campaigns, and budget restrictions mean that research will not be a priority."

fears of the extreme rights

Last month Macron called after a bitter defeat with the Parliamentary elections of the European Union a new election for the National Assembly. Scientists have commented on the potential effects of a victory in the extreme right. An opinion article in the newspaper le monde , signed by Nobel Prize winners and hundreds of other scientists , warned of restrictions on visas for researchers and students as well as threats to academic freedom, including.

"The RN has long been a danger to our sector," says The outgoing research minister Sylvie Retailleau . "You just have to see what happened after the victory of the extreme right in Hungary and Poland with higher education and research." The universities of Hungary have been became less autonomous

A victory of the RN would have shown "a threat to international cooperation and for funding, including control over foundations", adds retailleau. "Isolation is not an option. We cannot work without the free exchange of researchers, students and ideas."

The program of the RN called for a quick, short-term increase in public expenditure that would “restrict research and other investments. Humanities and social sciences, climate research and the transition to renewable energies would suffer the most. Several politicians of the RN are openly climatic,” says retailleau.

carefully optimistic

The result of yesterday's choice allows some of these fears. "The Ministry of Research will probably continue to exist, while it would have practically disappeared if the RN had won the election," says Patrick Lemaire, the president of an alliance of French scholarship companies and 12 associations.

lemaire believes that science will be better under the Renaissance party under new leadership. With the NPF as the largest parliamentary group, the new government could focus more on environmental and energy transitions and better support research and higher education than its predecessor. Lemaire also hopes that scientific knowledge will be used for the design of public policies.

Other researchers are less optimistic. Boris Gralak, General Secretary of the French National Union of the Scientific Researchers (SNCS-FSU), had feared a much worse election forecast, but still has no high expectations for French science in the coming years. "Twenty years ago, all important industrialized countries understood that investments in research are necessary," he says. "Germany, the USA, China, Japan and Korea have all increased their expenses, but France did not. The effects started to be felt here 10 years ago, and if not radical action is taken, the number of publications, researchers and doctoral students in France will continue to decrease."

"The new government, without a clear majority, will have other short -term priorities."