Who is this “strange personality” who “has sown chaos and carnage in French politics”? In an article published on July 8 in the European magazine Politico, Jamil Anderlini, its editor-in-chief, has undertaken a perilous exercise on a human and… journalistic level: delving into the head of Emmanuel Macron and trying to capture the essence of the character. This former editor-in-chief for Asia at Financial Times is one of the few journalists to have had access to the French president and his inner circle during his state visit to China in April 2023, during which he sparked controversy after his comments on Taiwan. An article he wrote a year after working with Emmanuel Macron and his team – “I supervise around 200 journalists throughout Europe, management takes up a large part of my time” – but which he considered essential and ultimately more relevant to publish the day after the surprise legislative elections provoked by the French president. At the end, a masterful portrait of the head of state that avoids the pitfall of falling into voyeurism and barroom psychology. And don’t be fooled by its slightly grandiloquent title – “The magnificent mind of Emmanuel Macron” – this portrait, which has met with some resonance on social networks, is not at all flattering. It describes a president “sinning through excess self-confidence”.
L’Express spoke with Jamil Anderlini to try to delve deeper into the psychology of an unloved president, whose actions have garnered the disapproval of almost three quarters of the French“Stunned” by what he saw of the head of state during the trip to Beijing, the journalist tells us about the behind the scenes of a trip that says a lot about Emmanuel Macron’s leadership.
L’Express: How is Emmanuel Macron different from other international leaders you have had the opportunity to meet?
Jamil Anderlini: Whether in Asia, where I spent most of my career, or in Brussels, where I am now based, I have had the opportunity to interview many leaders. I found Emmanuel Macron more impressive than most international leaders I have met. It is as if he is always in action, in character, sometimes in different characters. He gives the impression of being a drama student constantly trying to get a good grade. I never found him tired for a moment. He seemed to be in a permanent game, always aware that people were watching him. From my point of view, this is quite unusual. Many leaders put themselves on stage for the cameras and, when the cameras turn off, they are much more relaxed, less in a role. With Emmanuel Macron, it is different. I never had the feeling that he was speaking to me as a person. He looked at me like an actor looks at a spectator in the audience.
“Who does he listen to? I asked him and he said, “Nobody, I listen to myself.””
Despite this, did you feel like you were getting to know the real Emmanuel Macron? ?
First of all, let me clarify that it would have been more difficult for me to write an article like this if I followed the Élysée on a daily basis. First, I would not have had the necessary perspective to try to capture the essence of the character. Second, I witnessed the little game of media access that the Élysée plays… It looked more like the Chinese Communist Party than a Western democracy! I was therefore very surprised by the way in which they tried to manipulate the content of the articles. Starting with the approval of quotes and proofreading. I found this absolutely astonishing. In the British-Australian-American media tradition that is mine, it is unacceptable for a journalist to submit quotes and his article to the press officer and for the latter to then modify them as he pleases. Of course, in France, it is different. The Élysée controls access to Emmanuel Macron. So if you are a journalist whose job is to cover the president’s news, and the Palace tells you, “You will never be invited to a press conference again,” your job becomes more complicated. So I don’t claim to have grasped every facet of Emmanuel Macron’s mind, but it is easier for an outsider like me, who comes with a fresh perspective without having to worry about never being invited to a press conference at the Élysée again. In any case, I’m not going. [Rires.]
What is your view on the way Emmanuel Macron is treated by the media in France? Do you think they are too soft?
From what I have read and from what my colleagues have said, Politico in Paris tell me, I still have the impression that the French media are not always kind to him. But I think we should not underestimate the cultural aspect. Whether in France, Germany, or elsewhere in Europe, I observe a relationship between politicians and the media that is different from the one I am used to. There is a general problem with the relationship between the media and power in many countries. In Poland, for example, you have to submit quotes, and political leaders can change them as they wish, it is the law. In France, the press is closer to power. The same is sometimes true in Washington. Take Joe Biden. The journalists accredited to the White House all knew, or almost, that he was a little slow, perhaps a little senile, but did they write it? No. Why? Because of too much proximity.
You have observed and spoken a lot with Emmanuel Macron’s entourage. What did you learn from that?
He is surrounded by very competent, very charming people. What struck me, however, and I wrote about it in the article, was the contrast on the ground with the Chinese leadership teams. At the top of the Communist Party structure, there are armies of great experts in the history of France and Franco-Chinese relations who are at the service of Xi Jinping. Macron, for his part, did not have these resources at his fingertips; I was able to see that he was not well informed. Of course, there were representatives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the ground, but he did not seem to consult them or listen to them. Emmanuel Macron improvised, perhaps thinking that he could convince and charm this evil dictator on the basis of his intelligence alone. He seemed to show great naivety. It seemed obvious to me that he knew very little about China, the history between the two countries, Xi Jinping’s program, his objectives. He arrived there like a blank sheet of paper.
“People around Emmanuel Macron all told me the same thing: he just wants to be loved.”
I lived in China for twenty-two years. So I had to deal with the Communist Party every day. As a journalist, I learned to recognize the methods used by the Beijing regime to humiliate foreign leaders and obtain the concessions it wants. In my official and sometimes unofficial discussions with Emmanuel Macron, I was astounded by the way he and his entourage unknowingly made concessions to the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping. [NDLR : le président français avait suggéré de ne pas faire preuve de “suivisme” à l‘égard des Etats-Unis face à la Chine, en particulier au sujet de Taïwan]. Concessions that have harmed France and Europe at the same time. On the ground, on the Chinese side, very high-ranking people that I know personally were laughing. Like many people in Brussels, moreover, who said to themselves: “Oh my God! What is he doing?” I asked myself: how can this happen? Who is he listening to? So I asked him the question, and he answered me: “Nobody, I listen to myself.” And then I understood.
Why did you choose the term “magnificent” to describe Macron’s spirit?
I don’t usually choose the titles of my papers, but I made an exception for this one. I chose it first of all for this sense of grandeur, which is that of the French presidency, but also his own. He is a relatively small man with giant hands, but there is the grandeur of the man, which is sometimes ridiculous, sometimes appropriate. I had the feeling that it reflected the idea he has of himself and the idea he wants to project. So it is also a slightly ironic title.
How do you see the end of his five-year term?
The best people to answer the question are my colleagues in Paris. They are the real experts. But what I would say, at the moment, is that Emmanuel Macron is on his way to becoming a lame-duck president until 2027. The presidential majority lost a third of its seats in the legislative elections. He is clearly very diminished. Emmanuel Macron and the people around him were delighted with these results, but it was still the far right that won the most votes. And then what will we say about Macronism in ten years? Probably that it was just him and nothing else. As if he had created this powerful movement, seven years ago, by the sole force of his personality and his “magnificent” spirit. And what did he get out of it? A very weakened France.
“He is a man with an interstellar ego who is deeply lacking in self-confidence,” you wrote. Do you really think so?
The people around Emmanuel Macron have all told me the same thing: he just wants to be loved. Beneath this apparent arrogance, I believe, lies a deep insecurity. Moreover, the trappings of a position like the French presidency and the kind of machinery that surrounds it tend to feed narcissistic personalities.
How did the Elysée react to the publication of your article?
I heard from them. They weren’t very happy, you can imagine.
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