100 DAYS IN, MACRON FINDS FRANCE STUCK IN NEUTRAL
French president is struggling to push reforms through. Damien McElroy reports
Visitors to French beaches can look forward to more holiday reading this month as volunteers from Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche party distribute a pamphlet from the president.
The special edition Summer Workbook has quizzes, a pull-out colouring-in section and an explanation of the vital importance of fighting climate change.
At the Macron headquarters in Paris, party officials say the purpose of the programme was to keep voters informed of what the government was doing.
“We have to keep explaining our work. We want to keep hold of the optimistic belief in reform,” one party official said. “There are some supporters already asking how can we make a difference. Some are beginning to doubt.
“I believe it can be done and we are seeing the beginning of the changes that Emmanuel Macron will bring. That’s why we must keep on explaining what it is we need to do and why it makes sense for France.”
Mr Macron, 39, stormed to the French presidency in May beating fire-right leader Marine Le Pen. Four weeks later, En Marche, a party that did not exist a year before, pulled off part two of the Macron miracle by winning a working majority in the national assembly.
Since then the new order has had lessons in politics. Much of Mr Macron’s troubles have been in the parliament that his forces nominally control. Legislation to abolish conflicts of interest and introduce a moral code for public servants was bogged down by opposition from the far left.
Perhaps the biggest setback was a row over security. Budget cuts to the military despite the state of emergency in a time of terror shocked many of Mr Macron’s centrist allies. Pierre de Villiers, the respected head of the army, quit after losing a showdown with the president for more money.
Two years of tensions with 30,000 troops on alert had pushed the military close to breaking point, Gen de Villiers warned. In one aside during a discussion on the effect of budget cuts, which Mr Macron had played down as a one-off move, Gen de Villiers drew a distinction with his commander-in-chief.
“I am not a six-week-old rabbit,” he pointedly declared.
Mr Macron entered office saying he would adopt a Jupiterian approach. Like the Roman god, he hoped to send down thunderbolts to shake up the system. By the time MPs and cabinet ministers broke up for the holidays, he was already appealing over the heads of the Parisian elite.
Olivier Bricq, a retired businessman, is one of the French voters doubting Mr Macron’s ability to deliver on his principal promise to shake up the French economy. The president, he believes, has been exposed by a tumultuous first 100 days in office.
“I believed there was something about Emmanuel Macron that would be great, but now I think he floated to office on air,” Mr Bricq said.
“There was a moment that all the media were for him and it seemed he was fighting off the old system. Now that I’ve seen him in power, I see he is one of them. He is part of the system and change won’t come from there.”
Mr Bricq, 55, is an example of the type of French citizen who would dearly like the dirigiste economic system, dominated by regulations and closed-shop workplaces, to be transformed. The small trading business he ran for 20 years has closed and he is reluctant to start again.
“It is too difficult to draw in money in this environment and everywhere there are costs,” he said. “So I shut it because there was no reward for hard work.
“It is not Macron’s fault he is too young to succeed, but I think that is the case. The people are certainly ready for a new approach, but I doubt they will get it.”
To the Macron loyalists the former banker is a symbol that France is at last on the move – as his party’s name promises.
A look at pedestrians in a street that runs next to the ministry of economy and finance reveals an example of this strain of support for Mr Macron.
Retired couples make their way to Station F, a refurbished railway siding that has set out its stall as a centre for technology in Europe’s most hidebound economy.
Not fully complete, Station F is an embodiment of the type of dynamic France that Mr Macron aims to create. With Paris this month deserted as the French flee to the coast, Station F stands out as a hive of activity. The trickle of couples in their leisure years is a testament to Mr Macron’s inspirational power.
“Jean” is a retired official who worked for the European Commission in Brussels. He has come to Station F to take away lessons that he can pass on to his two sons.
“I have one son already in business – he designs colourful socks,” Jean said. “I would like my second son to avoid the kind of life behind a desk that I had. He is interested in the digital sphere and in enterprise. He wants to create something in this realm.”
The president can help French innovators to find their way, Mr Dubarry believes.
“I am convinced that this president is a strong figure with a global vision of France. He can remove the obstacles that face the young.”
Hopes for far-reaching reform, therefore, endure despite Mr Macron’s ratings slump. Last month his support dropped to a little more than 30 per cent.
The real test is to come next month and October, when a showdown with the unions over labour law reforms and deregulation is expected.
During a pre-holiday pep talk to the cabinet to instruct his lieutenants on what he expects when parliament reconvenes at the end of the month, Mr Macron called for a greater sense of purpose.
“It is our time of recoil,” he said. “Virtually all our reforms have begun.”
Now that I’ve seen him in power, I see he is one of them. He is part of the system and change won’t come from there