Macron’s real battle begins now

Macron’s real battle begins now

June 20, 2017
French President Emmanuel Macron is seen during a news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, June 16, 2017. — Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron is seen during a news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, June 16, 2017. — Reuters

THERE have been few political upsets as radical as the dual triumph of President Emmanuel Macron and his newly created En Marche party, which on Sunday swept to an absolute majority in the French National Assembly.

France’s youngest-ever president, Macron in 39 years old, now has the mandate and the power to push through far-reaching changes to the economy and the welfare system. These will see $65 billion slashed from the state budget, 120,000 public servants given their marching orders, the tearing up of labor market laws and the reduction of generous state pensions. Macron said he has also set his sights on profound changes to the EU establishment in Brussels, which in many respects is a mirror of France’s elitist government in which “Le Pouvoir” (“The Power”) always believes that it alone knows what is best for the little people.

It is a big agenda which is sure to run into sustained resistance from unions, pensioners and from members of the threatened elite itself. Macron himself comes from their ranks. If he does indeed push through all he has promised he will make bitter enemies among his former colleagues who will regard his actions as a betrayal of the system that projected him on his meteoric political rise.

One advantage that Macron and En Marche do enjoy is that they have not been voted in on a tidal wave of hope — rather the French electorate is disgusted with established parties and feared the disastrous consequences of a victory for Marine Le Pen and her racist National Front. There is more a sense of amazement at what has happened than a widespread belief that overnight France is about to be transformed very much for the better.

Indeed a National Front aide said a few weeks ago that if the electorate backed the painful changes Macron was proposing, it would very much be a case of turkeys voting for Christmas. Marine Le Pen’s campaign included deeply unrealistic economic promises as well as withdrawal from the EU and barely disguised Islamophobic plans. In 2012 the National Front failed to win any parliament seats. This time they have eight, a long way short of the 100 they initially predicted, later scaled back to just 15. But one of the Front legislators is Marine Le Pen herself. It can be expected that she will miss no opportunity to grandstand during debates.

Macron looks set to first home in on his extensive economic changes which will sail through the assembly before the new laws meet the almost inevitable opposition on the streets. But the president needs to be aware that social unrest over jobs, welfare and pensions is going to have the alarming consequence of focusing attention of the country’s long-established Muslim community. It requires no effort to imagine the poisonous cant the National Front will spout about “foreigners” taking jobs and milking the welfare system.

It seems important that the new president immediately reaches out to French Muslims, assuring them of their status and value to the country. It remains to be seen if he will have the political courage to reverse controversial Islamophobic measures such as the headscarf ban in schools.

Sunday’s decisive parliamentary victory is surely the sweetest day Macron will ever know in his political career. Now the real battles begin.


June 20, 2017
HIGHLIGHTS