The second major competition of his career was the 1938 European Athletics Championships and he demonstrated fine form in the weeks prior to the event by improving his French record to 53 seconds flat. The men's events were held at the Stade Olympique de Colombes in Paris and Joye was the only athlete to reach the top of the podium for the host nation. He saw off a challenge from Hungarian József Kovács to win the gold medal with a time of 53.1 seconds – just off his national record but a championship record nevertheless. He ran the anchor leg for the French 4×400 m relay team at the championships but he was beaten to the finish by Swedish runner Bertil von Wachenfeldt, just missing out on a medal by finishing fourth.