A unilateral presidential decision, a rally at Place de la Concorde, references to Louis XVI and a few burning trash cans: Thursday’s crazy evening ticked all the boxes for the “French revolution” bingo that the foreign media are crazy about. “Unfortunately for France, this sequence does not surprise anyone, breathes Richard Werly, historical correspondent of the Swiss press in Paris and journalist for the information site Blick. The feeling has settled in that, in any case, the French are in a period of great anger and that they are waiting for the slightest spark to light the fire. The reality is that Emmanuel Macron, since his re-election, looks more like an arsonist than a president.”
France in the headlines of the international press
Today, beyond the burnt garbage cans, the whole world discovers article 49.3 of our Constitution, this anomaly among Western democracies. What is described as a “coup de force” by Emmanuel Macron to push through his unpopular pension reform appears on the front page of the international press, the Guardian To El País. Even the paper version of New York Times, barometer of world attention, shows Élisabeth Borne in the National Assembly, staggering in the face of the revolt of the Nupe deputies. “Rage is rising”, headlines the American daily of reference.
“Macron modifies pensions by decree, as rage mounts”, headlines the New York Times in its edition of Friday March 17, 2023.
© / The New York Times
The images of the eruptions of violence in the beautiful districts of Paris, Thursday evening, turned on all the televisions of the world. On social networks too, Russian and Turkish influencers savored the sequence, taking advantage of the magnifying glass effect to show a France in flames, a giver of lessons herself in the grip of an “undemocratic” and “illiberal” regime. Easy, for some, to be ironic about a necessary foreign intervention to “change the regime” in Paris…
The most significant damage undoubtedly concerns the stature of Emmanuel Macron. How far away he seems, this young reforming and liberal president, celebrated for his audacity and his ideas focused on the future of Europe. Finally, after seven years in power, he proved incapable of reforming his own country. “How can Emmanuel Macron continue to embody an ambitious France in Europe with such a mess at home?, asks Richard Werly. He is going to Brussels at the end of next week for the European Council, where he will present himself in position of weakness in the face of leaders who are waiting for it at the turn, such as Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orban.As for the Germans, they show great indulgence vis-à-vis France, but the path is short between the indulgence and indifference.”
Emmanuel Macron does not have the monopoly of criticism from abroad. French society as a whole, as the last country in the European Union (with the more flexible Swedish model) to propose a legal retirement age of 62, arouses misunderstanding among our neighbours. All have evolved on the subject, without blocking their country. The image of a conservative France, resistant to any change and ready to ignite at the slightest annoyance, emerges reinforced from this sequence. She is indeed the only one.