THE FACTOR OF EUROSCEPTICISM AND THE PHENOMENON OF POLITICAL CRISIS IN FRANCE AND GERMANY: CURRENT STATE AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract. The elections to the European Parliament held in June 2024 had the most significant impact on the political landscape within Germany and France, the leading states of the EU. French President Emmanuel Macron, without waiting for the official results, announced early parliamentary elections. Later in the autumn, the ruling coalition in Germany collapsed, and the leaders of the "Alliance 90/The Greens" party, who were part of the coalition, resigned following a series of defeats in local elections. The authors of the article conducted a case study of the political crisis in each country, analyzing the events to determine whether the established academic definition of a political crisis is applicable for their description, thus offering a comparative analysis between the two countries. The novelty of the research lies in the comprehensive comparison of the political crises in France and Germany following the 2024 European Parliament elections, identifying not only national characteristics but also common patterns in the transformation of political processes in the leading EU countries. Unlike previous works, the proposed article takes into account the latest developments—the collapse of ruling coalitions and early elections, which in turn updates the conceptual framework of political crisis and highlights the authors' contribution to addressing current issues in comparative political science, international relations, and regional studies. Keywords: European Parliament, centrism, Euroscepticism, populism.