For those in the EU and NATO who hope for peace, quiet and stability, the French election campaign so far is pure horror.
Leading the opinion polls is the far-right Marine Le Pen, who wants to cut EU funding in half and end financial support for Ukraine.
Close behind her is the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who wants to leave NATO altogether and is demanding that the European Central Bank write off French national debt.
Just behind them, centrist candidate Gabriel Attal is also trying to campaign on creating a United States of Europe - something that may appeal to some Brussels officials, but still goes against the grain of most EU member states.
Anger at Macron
The fact that the extremes are most attractive is due in no small part to nearly 10 years of disappointment with Emmanuel Macron as president. He was elected on a promise to be neither right nor left, but has instead been accused by both sides of being one, then the other.
The economy and reforms are stuck amid the Covid crisis, the war in Ukraine and a deeply divided parliament.
Tellingly, both Le Pen and Mélenchon are now promising to lower the retirement age ahead of the election, even though it makes economists and lenders sigh heavily.
In a situation where the other candidates are fighting among themselves, with low opinion figures on both the right and the left, many still expect a completely new candidate to emerge, as Macron did in 2016. Then it took until November, just five months before the election, before he formally launched his campaign - even though his ambitions had been speculated about long before that.
Want to meet each other
Le Pen and Mélenchon are happy, however. Both are each other's preferred opponents in a decisive election round. Otherwise, they risk facing someone who may not have as many supporters as they do, but who is less unpopular.
The anti-vote is perhaps the biggest favourite of the election.
The winner will not be the one who is most appreciated but the one who is least disliked, says political scientist Jean-Yves Dormagen to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.
Facts: French presidential election 2027
France will hold presidential elections on April 18, 2027, with a decisive second round on May 2.
Here are some of the most highly tipped:
Marine Le Pen, 58 years old, candidate of the far-right National Rally party. Running for the fourth time.
Gabriel Attal, 37, party leader of Macron's centrist Renaissance party and former prime minister in his government.
Édouard Philippe, 55, leader of the centrist Horizons party and mayor of Le Havre. Former prime minister in Macron's government.
Bruno Retailleau, 65 years old, leader of the right-wing Republicans party.
Raphaël Glucksmann, 46 years old, EU parliamentarian who is tipped to be the candidate of the united left.
François Hollande, 72, Socialist Party MP and former president (2012–2017). Has not officially announced his candidacy.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, 74, leader of the far-left party Unconquered France. Running for the fourth time.
Source: Le Monde, Le Figaro and others
The following men have ruled France since Charles de Gaulle resigned in 1969:
1969–74: Georges Pompidou
1974–81: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
1981–95: François Mitterrand
1995–2007: Jacques Chirac
2007–12: Nicolas Sarkozy
2012–17: Francois Hollande
2017–: Emmanuel Macron
