Flamboyant Macron’s magic is waning
Image of the French president, who came to power 18 months ago, has taken a serious beating, but for the time being he has no serious challenger
The presidency of Emmanuel Macron is in turmoil. Recurrent declines in popularity mean that those satisfied with his presidency stand at 27 per cent (as per the latest approval rating) — a level similar to former President Francois Hollande after 18 months in office. As of now, 60 per cent of the French have “a negative opinion” of Macron, and only 19 per cent “see him positively”.
After such a flamboyant start, what happened? Macron was elected to make changes and launch reforms that none of his predecessors were brave enough to do. Wasting little time, he began by reforming the ‘working code’ and the status of the French Railways dependants, real milestones previously considered ‘not achievable’. Macron also made other moves that favoured entrepreneurship and dynamism.
Macron’s slip started to show when he began telling people off. He told an unemployed person during an open-doors event at the presidential palace in September “to cross the road” to find a job. On another occasion, he commanded a teenager to call him ‘Mr President’(and not his shortened first name). Both instances (caught on tape) didn’t register well with the public. However, real damage started when the so-called “Benalla Affair” hit the headlines. Alexandre Benalla is a member of the Elysee Palace staff, recruited to coordinate the president’s security. He was filmed during the May 1 demonstrations, knocking down a demonstrator in Paris. The Elysee Palace overlooked the matter until a journalist unveiled the whole story. A public backlash followed. The National Assembly and the Senate set up commissions to look into it. The press took Macron to the cleaners.
A degraded image
As things go, the French president will obviously go on reacting in the coming weeks, starting with a significant ministerial reshuffle, and one may see four main ways to reverse a degraded image. One is to improve the purchasing power of the French, which means reducing taxes — and consequently reduce public spending. A move has started, but has thus far concentrated on ‘inactive people’ (the retired middle class population); a more decisive action on public spending is needed. Another one is to go on reducing unemployment: The prevailing situation has started to reverse, but there are still too many blockages. A third one is to fight illegal immigration more efficiently, a difficult task to say the least.
On foreign policy, it is unlikely Macron will change anything in what he has been (or not) doing these last months. The ‘special’ dialogue with United States President Donald Trump led nowhere. Neither did the French-Russia relationship grow. In the Middle East, he proved that France doesn’t have much say on the Syrian situation. As far as the Palestinian issue is concerned, Macron has confirmed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the “two-state solution is still alive”, when everyone knows that in reality, Israel has substituted the debate around its illegal occupation with the “fight against terrorism” narrative.
On a more general note, Macron’s silver lining is that he doesn’t face a tough opposition at home. France’s socialist party has more or less disappeared; the Right is unable to talk in one voice; and the two far-left and far-right groupings appear meek. Most observers are now waiting and watching if Macron will recover before next spring’s elections to the European Parliament.