hThings can change: while French President Emmanuel Macron received some praise in Parliament on Saturday as a self-proclaimed European leader, 24 hours later he was covered in tar and feathers in France. First, the humiliation of the European elections for her presidential party Renaissance, which won only 14 percent of the vote, while Marine Le Pen’s radical right Rassemblement National party won a big victory with 31.5 percent. cent, one of the highest scores for the far right in Europe. . But his response was taken more seriously in a television announcement immediately after the results: the completely unexpected decision to dissolve the French House of Representatives, the National Assembly.
Anyone reading the French press on Monday as a Macron supporter was embarrassed.
The Figaro (center right) wrote that this “unprecedented” decision by the “magician’s apprentice” Macron is “a leap into the unknown for the country, with incalculable consequences.” “Macron goes from arsonist firefighter to irresponsible kamikaze pilot,” he said Release (left) and: Macron is “an irresponsible person who plays with a box of matches” in L’Humanité (communist). The world (center left) talks about the bet of a player who plays poker “and has lost his touch.”
Prince Macron is angry
The fact is that Macron will force French voters to go to the polls in just three weeks. The prince is angry and this calculating president is officially betting on a republican front that can stop the radical right. A crazy bet, shortly before the Paris Olympic Games and given the electoral dynamics that could bring RN to power. But there is another reading.
Macron is a very unpopular leader in France, called a “bad president” by 67 percent of French people. He would not like France or the French and would be mainly concerned with his image and his ego. In addition to issues such as immigration and security, he is accused of disastrous financial policies. During the seven years of the former banker’s government, public debt increased in April from 821 billion to 3,101 billion. Weekly lepoint (center-right) writes that the president’s policy is to “issue checks without worrying about the deterioration of our public finances.” The same sound is heard in the weekly. The Express (center left): ‘The Jupiterian president has made a series of mistakes, been naive or cowardly while clinging to the crazy dream of free money.’
The new theory is that Macron sees RN in power as a kind of lightning rod for his own unpopularity and failed policies. According to him, with a radical right-wing prime minister there would be less attention paid to his own previous misstep. In fact, a cynical hypothesis about a president who would sacrifice the national interest for his own interests. Many commentators point out that Macron himself is to blame for the enormous growth of Le Pen’s party. He for a long time thought that the formula “me or far-right chaos” would strengthen his position and put RN as his only target. He did not foresee that for many French his unpopularity would outweigh the risk of chaos that was too often announced in advance.
The columnist broadcasts twice a week. Sylvain Ephimenco your view on current events. Read his columns here.