Amid instability, Macron reshuffles his cabinet

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron announced a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday morning, widely seen as an attempt to stabilize a historic drop in popularity and an increasing sense of political isolation.

For nearly two weeks, France has not had a full government, following a series of surprise resignations after the summer, each of which served as a major blow to Macron’s public image and ability to govern effectively. But on Tuesday, under mounting pressure, the 40-year-old president announced a new roster of names.

The changes were not extensive, which led many to question why the announcement had taken so long. The choices were also not entirely unpredictable: Christophe Castaner, who ran Macron’s political party, was given the post of interior minister, overseeing national security, one of the most important in the French government. While Macron also named new culture and agriculture ministers, other important postings were left as they were.

The news did little to quell a sense of panic in the Élysée.

“He won with a mix of luck, intuition and audacity - today he has less luck, and he has made some noteworthy mistakes,” said Gilles Finchelstein, the director of the Jean Jaures Foundation, a Paris-based think tank with ties to the Socialist Party but also to Macron’s campaign.

There are indeed signs that Macron’s luck - once seemingly bottomless - may be dwindling. In recent weeks, for example, his administration saw two high-profile resignations that caught the young president off guard.

In late August, Nicolas Hulot, his exceedingly popular environment minister and a former television personality, announced he would leave the government in a live radio broadcast. Hulot blaming a disconnect between Macron’s words and deeds on climate change, which Macron - in a series of grand, wide-ranging speeches - had sought to make one of his signature policy commitments.

“Have we begun to reduce the use of pesticides? The answer is no,” Hulot said during that broadcast. “Have we started to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? The answer is no. Or to stop the erosion of biodiversity? No.”

In September, Gerard Collomb, France’s interior minister, also resigned, but arguably with an even sharper critique. Collomb, 71, attacked what he called Macron’s “lack of humility.” In a television interview in early September, he used the language of antiquity to cast Macron as a tragic hero.

“Hubris, it’s the curse of the gods,” Collomb said, “when, at some point, you become too sure of yourself, that you think you will take it all away.”

More than a year into his presidency, Macron - viewed from abroad - is still often seen as the antithesis of President Donald Trump: the young, photogenic French president is a globalist who has forcibly condemned nationalism and populism, advocated for greater European integration and repeatedly called for action on climate change, and sometimes in perfect English.

But Macron’s image at home is vastly different, and has been for some time. Within France, Macron is seen as a monarchical figure, and he is often caricatured as the second coming of the ancien régime.