The rise of Éric Zemmour shows how far France has shifted to the right | Didier Fassin

The far-right media pundit is now a presidential candidate - and his toxic ideas have ever more mainstream support

On 17 November, the far-right journalist and polemicist Eric Zemmour went on trial in Paris on charges of incitement to racial hatred. In September 2020, he had said on the French news broadcaster CNews that unaccompanied foreign minors were thieves, they're murderers, they're rapists, that's all they are. We must send them back". He did not appear at the trial and was represented by his lawyers, who said the charges were unfounded. The verdict is expected to be delivered next year.

Zemmour has previously been convicted of incitement to racial hatred and religious hatred and been tried and acquitted in several other cases. But the stakes are different this time: the defendant is now a candidate for president of the French republic. In early November, polls indicated that up to 17% of the electorate would choose him for next president. This placed him behind only Emmanuel Macron, suggesting that the second round of the election could be between the two men. On 30 November, he officially announced his candidacy.

Didier Fassin is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris