As soon as the dust settled around Michel Barnier’s surprise nomination as French Prime Minister, the choice was met with something like grudging admiration. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the President realised an unexpected coup. But in …
The unholy alliance of Macron and Le Pen
Macron has faced relentless criticism for his decision to call a snap parliamentary election in July. Having said he wanted a “clarification” from the people after Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) surged to first place in the European Parliament elections, …
Will France impeach Macron?
After 50 days without a government, France is losing her head. What began as a historical curiosity has descended into a crisis. Not only is the current caretaker government unable to manage anything more than “ongoing affairs”, but the deadline …
Macron’s Olympic truce is over
“Paris became a place of celebration once more, and France found itself again.” Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games organising committee, could be forgiven for indulging himself during his speech at the weekend’s closing ceremony. Even …
Is Macron’s gamble actually working?
A 10-second clip from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi has been doing the rounds on French social media. In it, a hooded, decaying Emperor Palpatine arrives on the “fully operational” Second Death Star, cackling “Everything is proceeding as I …
The fall of Macron’s personality cult
With only days to go before the first round of the snap legislative elections called by President Emmanuel Macron, French politics remains as dramatically volatile as at any moment since the massive protests of 1968. A hung parliament, with the …
The faux radicalism of the Popular Front
Interviewed on French television last Friday, a prominent parliamentarian from the far-Left La France Insoumise, Matilde Panot, defended a claim made by her leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, about the relative inexperience of Léon Blum when he became head of the French …
Can France’s dauphin hold his nerve?
In 1792, the last Frenchman to be honoured with the title of dauphin was thrown in Paris’s Le Temple prison. The young Louis XVII was never freed; he died aged just 10.
More than two centuries later, the nickname had …
Is Nato heading for nuclear war?
On Monday, Europe crossed yet another red line in its ever-escalating, no-longer-so-proxy war against Russia. In a hastily arranged meeting of European leaders in Paris — a response to significant Russian breakthroughs on the Ukrainian frontline over the past few …
Can Jordan Bardella seduce France?
If you asked an AI-powered robot to generate a new star for France’s hard-Right National Rally (RN), it would probably produce someone just like Jordan Bardella. The MEP and head of the party’s ticket for June’s elections to European Parliament …
Has Macron promoted his own assassins?
This week’s French government reshuffle started in the usual endogamous Macron style, more like parthenogenesis than politics, with the nomination of the president’s “mini-me”, the 34-year-old Gabriel Attal, as his fourth PM in seven years. It ended with a dead …
Does France have a Napoleon complex?
L’Année Napoléon in Emmanuel Macron’s commemoration-hungry France, was a bit of a damp squib. In 2021, two centuries after the death of l’Empereur on St Helena’s Island, there was enough noise from the anti-colonialist crowd on his reintroduction of slavery …
The Gilets Jaunes achieved nothing
Five years ago today, Paris was liberated. Or, if you were a Parisian, the streets of the capital were blocked by tens of thousands of ploucs (yokels) in high-vis jackets. Right from the start, the Gilets Jaunes rebellion defied the …
Keir Starmer still doesn’t get Brexit
France has been swept up in a mood of cross-Channel rapprochement. As the country hosts the Rugby World Cup, its minister of sport has shown a special solicitude towards English visitors, hoping to atone for the mistreatment of English football …
The emptiness of Macron’s grand strategy
In the latest battle for strategic autonomy, Emmanuel Macron has notched up a small victory. Last month, under French pressure, American Fiona Scott Morton resigned from her post as chief economist of the EU’s Directorate-General for Competition. Starting from this …