> that the democrats are on the right leaning side of “centre right”
This is repeated frequently, but, no, just no.
Name one position by the Democrats that is to the right of typical center to center-right parties such as CDU/CSU, La République En Marche, PP, CDA, ÖVP.
Immigration, abortion, environmental regulations?
Public healthcare, tuition-free higher education, gun regulation, unions, social security, taxation, business regulation, criminal penalties.
On some/many social issues (minorities, abortion, drug policy) Democrats are relatively liberal even by European standards.
Interestingly until very recently even the republicans are way to the left of European countries on immigration.
All of these parties are equivalent to the dems. They're rightwing, not center.
There's been a trend recently to call them center-right to make the distinction with far right parties which were anecdotal 50 years ago, but make no mistake, when a party is called center-right, it's a rightwing party, not a center party that could align either with the left or the right depending on the topic.
I can't comment on the others but "La Republique en Marche" in France (Macron's party) is not rightwing. It goes from centre right to the centre left. From a British perspective it pretty much covers the right of Labour, the Lib Dems, and the left of the Tories.
Macron himself is very centrist to centre left. He started in government in Hollande's cabinet, which was a Socialist Party (= Labour) government. Many top figures in Macron's party now are former Socialist Party.
The rightwing party in France now is effectively the RN (although it is still referred to as "far-right" for historical and tactical reasons).
From a french perspective, it is definitely rightwing.
You would have trouble finding which major policy they made that aligns with the left, while many of their policies effectively dismantled workers’ rights.
Also the former socialists were from the PS’ right wing, which was (in a classic sense) liberal economically as well as on societal issues. That wing was happy supporting rightwing laissez-faire policies. That was the reason Hollande’s PS destroyed itself.
This is quite surreal... especially after I've just described the French perspective.
This reminds me of Maoist China where just suggesting a milder approach was enough to get you labeled "rightwinger"! Similarly, the views of the French far-left are not the "French perspective".
> From a British perspective [...]
> especially after I've just described the French perspective.
Make up your mind.
> Similarly, the views of the French far-left are not the "French perspective".
No one in France is seriously challenging the idea that Macron is rightwing. He's been pursuing the classic rightwing agenda, and has years of political alliance with the other rightwing parties in France.
But then again, considering your talking point is that RN is the only rightwing party, I'm not sure we're having a honest discussion here.