The countdown to this year’s EU parliament elections is well underway, but in many countries, the battle for votes seems to be being fought along national, not continental, lines. The dynamic is especially strong in France, where the EU elections are being framed by some parties as a forerunner to the 2027 presidential race – or “first and foremost mid-term elections”, in the words of Jordan Bardella, head of list for the far-right Rassemblement National party, who is calling to “sanction Macron’s Europe”. “If I’m in the lead, I’ll obviously ask for the National Assembly to be dissolved that v…