-Analysis-
PARIS — Dissolution, clarification, redemption. French President Emmanuel Macron was convinced this summer that he had the perfect plan when he suddenly dissolved Parliament and called snap elections. But he only succeeded in the first phase. With the collapse of the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Wednesday evening, all hell has now broken loose.
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Even conservative President Jacques Chirac didn’t miss his mark as badly in 1997, when he dissolved the National Assembly and ended up in a so-called “cohabitation” with a Socialist prime minister. To find such a fiasco of a no-confidence vote of the government, you’d have to go back to 1962.
Macron, who was born in 1977, is making his own shaky political history. Five months after he called snap elections following his his coalition’s heavy defeat in the European Union parliamentary elections, the head of state is now back “to square one” — as Les Echos titled its front page on Wednesday. Back to nowhere, in fact!
A lost bet
Against a backdrop of an increasingly elusive majority, the far-right National Rally (RN) and the broad left-wing New Popular Front alliance (NFP) continue to close in on Macron — as is the field of possibilities for finding a new prime minister. That’s what you call being caught in your own trap.
No matter how much Macron denounces the “cynicism” of the RN and accuses the Socialist Party (PS) of “losing their bearings,” his strategy of staying away from the national scene to make himself desired has left much to be desired.
Dreaming of a reprieve, Macron is now facing calls to resign.
The French are fed up, and hold him primarily responsible for the economic-political-institutional crisis: He gambled, and the whole country lost.
Dreaming of a reprieve, he is now facing calls to resign. And this time, there’s no Olympic Games in sight to remake the medal. Indeed, following the June elections, Macron chose not to name a new government until the Paris 2024 Olympics ended. He appointed Barnier as prime minister on Sept. 5, an unprecedented seven weeks after the legislative elections.
Our drama
This time, the presidential aides at Elysée promise he will quickly appoint a new prime minister. By the weekend? That would reassure the markets and suit Macron. After that, he’s busy: On Saturday evening, he will welcome some 50 heads of state for the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. He’s counting on the event to make France — and therefore its president — shine.
Will Notre-Dame make us forget “notre drame,” our drama? Five years on, the cathedral is restored, as Macron promised. Finally, a successful bet!
He’s so proud of it, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d actually restored it himself. The construction project is finished. But the end of his second term is still a work in progress.
