From the Guardian · · 2m
Macron faces isolation as criticism erupts from all sides
After violent riots and a weak presidential address, Emmanuel Macron stands condemned by left, right and centre, with few options to respond.
In brief
After violent riots and a weak presidential address, Emmanuel Macron stands condemned by left, right and centre, with few options to respond. Emmanuel Macron's address to the nation after France's worst riots in years drew ferocious criticism across the political spectrum, exposing his isolation and weakened position…
Riots grip France after month of protests
A month-long high school protest over crumbling classrooms merged with anger over living costs and inequality. Masked groups then torched vehicles, ransacked businesses and set fire to city halls in Limoges and Marseille.
Macron's response offers no concrete action
Speaking from the Élysée Palace after a weekend in which two thousand plus shops were looted, two thousand three hundred people arrested and one thousand police injured, Macron acknowledged deep anxiety but offered no policy…
Left and right condemn the president
The Greens' Marine Tondelier said Macron was summoning opposition politicians like pupils to the blackboard.The National Rally's Jordan Bardella called the speech lamentable.
Even allies turn against him
Marine Le Pen said the country was caught in a vice between violence and impotence.Bruno Retailleau said Macron was totally overwhelmed.Macron's former prime minister Édouard Philippe said the country needs to be governed, not consulted.
“Our country needs to be governed.”
Macron's Jupiterian strategy backfired
Macron came to power in two thousand seventeen as a Jupiterian president, projecting distant authority above daily politics. Over nine years that high-handed style morphed into perceived arrogance and detachment, compounded by catastrophic strategic errors.
Parliamentary deadlock and fiscal crisis collide
Macron lost his parliamentary majority in two thousand twenty-two and dissolved the national assembly in two thousand twenty-four, backfiring spectacularly.
No money to ease the crisis
French presidents once bought social tranquility with spending packages. But with no fiscal room, the government's response has been teargas and baton charges, sometimes against schoolchildren. France's borrowing costs are now higher than Greece's.
Far right poised to benefit from chaos
Macron's centrist coalition has collapsed.If protests persist, the main beneficiary will be the far right.An influential former Macron MP told Le Monde that Marine Le Pen is on a direct path to the Élysée Palace.
“Marine Le Pen is on a direct path to the Élysée Palace.”
Here's the gist
Emmanuel Macron's address to the nation after France's worst riots in years drew ferocious criticism across the political spectrum, exposing his isolation and weakened position ahead of the presidential election.
