Good morning from Paris, Berlin Germany’s conservative CDU party understands the decision by the French conservative party Les Républicains – both members of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) – not to call for a cordon sanitaire if opponents from the far right or the left-wing coalition Nouveau Front Populaire face off in the second round of the French legislative elections. “I can understand that [French conservatives] Les Républicains cannot support either the Rassemblement National or the radical left in the current situation, as both camps pose a threat to the State,” the CDU’s foreign affairs spokesman Juergen Hardt told Euractiv on Monday. Nick Alipour and Théo Bourgery Gonse have the story. Here are two scenarios that could shape France’s political future after the second round of the French elections next weekend. Von der Leyen’s EU Parliament race In an effort to secure a majority in the EU Parliament to get a second term after the EU leaders’ nomination last week, Ursula von der Leyen met with the Greens on Monday at 17:00 at the Berlaymont. “The talk was about: can the Greens be part of a majority?” Greens co-president Bas Eickhout told Euractiv after the meeting. “We came to the conclusion that there are a lot of points we really could come close to each other,” he added. However, in Rome, Deputy Prime Minister and EPP vice-president Antonio Tajani said von der Leyen would be “forced”to open to Giorgia Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR) as the only way for her to secure a second mandate. | 