A complicated, even untenable position. Since the announcement of the motion of censure in Michel Barnier’s government, the foreign press has been focusing in recent days on the role of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, in this situation. The head of state’s speech on Thursday evening was sometimes harshly commented on by several headlines. The leader increased his criticism of the “irresponsibility” of the groups who voted to bring down the former Brexit negotiator from Matignon. While assuming the choice of dissolution which led to this fragmented National Assembly, Emmanuel Macron did not seem to undertake a real questioning of his decisions in recent months.
A posture criticized by El Paíswho sees it as a sign of a president “who is going on the attack”. “Emmanuel Macron, the master of clocks, as he likes to be nicknamed in the press, returned to the French at 8 p.m., in a televised speech, to explain the critical situation in which the country finds itself. Anyone who could hope for the head of the State, any guilt, analyzes or constructive solutions, will have to wait for another speech”, tackled the Spanish daily in a report of his speech. The Guardian believes for his part that the head of state is today faced with “the worst political crisis” he has experienced since he began power at the Élysée in 2017.
“What allowed Macron to access the highest offices also led to his downfall”
Shortly before Emmanuel Macron’s speech, Der Spiegel published an analysis of the reasons for the bad political situation that the latter is going through. “It is above all because of himself that what allowed Macron to access the highest functions of the State also led to his fall: there is only one step between insurance irresistible of a daring young president and the self-satisfaction of someone who supposedly does not understand”, estimates in this paper the correspondent in France of the German newspaper.
According to several titles, this loss of national influence is combined with other difficulties, this time on the international level. The visit to the summit of Mercosur countries by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Thursday in Montevideo (Uruguay), testifies according to The Times of the “declining authority” of Emmanuel Macron. Plunged at the same time into a political crisis, the French president saw his efforts to avoid the signing of this agricultural agreement called into question by this unexpected trip by the person in charge from Brussels. “The European Union has overruled its opposition to a trade agreement considered incendiary in rural France,” says The Times.
A political “equation” difficult to solve
Above all, most of the media highlight a situation that appears politically inextricable for Emmanuel Macron. “In his former life, Emmanuel Macron handled numbers. Will the ex-banker turned president be able to solve the impossible equation that follows the fall of Michel Barnier’s government?” asks the Belgian daily The evening. “There is no indication that the new era will be any kinder to Emmanuel Macron than the previous one. Who he chooses as prime minister will have to be approved by a sharply divided Parliament, where he faces unabashed opposition from both wings of the hemicycle”, summarizes the American channel CNN on its website.
Same prediction on the side of Washington Post : “Whatever the next Prime Minister appointed by Macron, the coming months promise to be uncertain for French politics, especially as the country must fill a big gap in its public finances.” The prestigious daily newspaper on the American coast also highlights the return to the center of the political game of Marine Le Pen, “who does not hide her presidential ambitions” and imposes herself “in the role of kingmaker within a divided room”.
How can the president emerge from this difficult sequence? For Der SpiegelEmmanuel Macron would in any case have made the right choice by repeating that he wanted to exercise his presidential mandate “until the end”, contrary to what part of the opposition is demanding. “Macron is not thinking of resigning – fortunately. It would be the worst if he gave in to pressure from the right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen and her equally radical left-wing counterpart Jean-Luc Mélenchon. As difficult as the current situation is, it does not justify bowing to those who foment social division and hate Europe”, salutes the magazine published across the Rhine.