Macron sees approval rating fall to new low
EMMANUEL MACRON’S popularity has fallen further and faster than any other recent French president, an opinion poll indicated yesterday, as he prepares to push through hotly contested labour reforms.
More than half of French voters – 57 per cent – are dissatisfied with him following the revelation last week that the fresh-faced 39-year-old centrist spent £24,000 on make-up during his first three months in office.
Protests forced him to scrap a plan to give his wife a constitutional role as first lady, and there is discontent over delays in promised tax cuts.
Only 40 per cent approve of his performance, the Ifop poll showed, a 14 per cent plunge since July, although another poll has placed his rating as low as 36 per cent.
The dramatic decline since his landslide election victory in May, when he enjoyed a 62 per cent approval rating, will do little to enhance Mr Macron’s standing as he hosts a summit today with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Italian and Spanish leaders.
Mr Macron has promised to “re-found” the European Union, but to bring Mrs Merkel and other leaders on board for his programme of deeper political and financial integration for the eurozone, he will first need to prove that he can reform France.
Unions and Leftist groups are to hold a protest on Thursday against his controversial reforms to make companies more competitive by liberalising France’s rigid employment code.
Jean-luc Mélenchon, the far-left leader who the poll indicates is seen as the most effective opposition leader by a majority of voters, yesterday urged his supporters to “take the struggle to the streets”.
Christophe Castaner, the French government spokesman, shrugged off Mr Macron’s plunging approval rating.
“Transforming France means taking on a degree of unpopularity,” he said.