Macron losing his voters
According to recent polls by the Ifop opinion research institute, Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National stands to gain 24 percent of the vote in the European elections. Emmanuel Macron's party La République en Marche is trailing behind at just 18 percent. Can the president regain the people's trust in the aftermath of the yellow vest protests?
President needs to reconnect with his people
Macron should take inspiration from his predecessors, political journalist François Bazin writes in Le Figaro:
“To rise in the polls again - or at least to try to - they were obliged to put their mandate on a new course. Mitterand achieved this with Europe, Hollande with the responsibility pact. ... All Macron has up his sleeve is the promise of a major national debate the nature of which is by definition uncertain. ... In making this promise the president has undoubtedly chosen the right issue, namely how to shape a democracy in which the president no longer has all the say. But such ambitions take time, whereas the most urgent task now is to find the political measure that would re-establish a direct connection between the Elysée Palace and the people.”
Macronism running on empty
To Ethnos has little hope that the policies of the French President can be revitalised:
“If Macron's party gets bad results in the European elections, how will he be able to remain in government until the spring of 2022? ... Will the political system resignedly or idly wait until Le Pen takes over, or will it, after Macron's tactical retreat in the face of the yellow-vest rebellion, come up with a social stabilization strategy that for the first time requires a departure from the line of European integration imposed by Germany on its partners? Whatever the case, no one in Paris, or even in Brussels or Berlin, believes that it will be possible to rekindle the dynamism of Macron and Macronism.”
Beacon of hope has fallen hard
A year ago Macron tweeted that 2018 would be the year of national cohesion, Magyar Hírlap recalls with a smirk:
“Internet users dug out this tweet in recent days and of course they haven't spared the president. Particularly in the light of the last events of the past year, Macron's words are a joke. Because if there's one thing that's uniting the French nation at the moment it's the rejection of Macron and his government. But it's not only Macron's tweet that has a bitter aftertaste but also all last year's headlines hailing him as Europe's new leader. Because Europe's leader - whatever you mean by that - can hardly be someone who doesn't even enjoy the support of his own people.”