Abdul Jallah discusses the French President Emmanuel Macron
If there was a competition held yearly for the world’s biggest losers, this year’s field would be packed full of them. For example, leaders like Bashar al-Assad, (now former) President of Syria, who lost his country to rebel forces in 11 days. And don’t forget leaders like South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose attempt to impose martial law on the East Asian nation backfired immensely (and got him impeached). However, one cannot overlook the terrible year had by President Emmanuel Macron of France, which is not as bad as our two previous presidents but is still very bad and very much self-imposed.
To begin the story of Macron’s very bad year, we must go all the way back to 2022. In a presidential rematch, Macron was re-elected and once again defeated his long-term rival Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally. However, in the parliamentary elections of that same year, Macron’s government coalition lost their majority in the National Assembly (France’s legislature) and the National Rally became the second largest party in France. The momentum of the National Rally didn't stop there, they scored sweeping gains in the EU elections held in June 2024, while Macron’s EU group saw massive losses. After this major embarrassment, Macron called a snap election, hoping to defeat the National Rally once and for all.
The snap election, to sum it up, didn’t go to plan for anyone. Neither Macron’s or Le Pen’s group ended up with a majority, instead it was a coalition of leftist parties called the ‘New Popular Front’. However the NFP wasn’t handed the premiership (role of Prime Minister) by Macron (who as President chooses the Prime Minister), instead Macron handed the title of Prime Minister to one Michel Barnier of The Republicans (another party in France), after forming a minority government with them. The decision wasn’t a popular one, and sparked outrage from the left, who decried the move as a ‘stolen election’. The left issued several motions of no confidence (a measure in parliamentary/semi-presidential systems that could remove the Prime Minister if successful) against now PM Barnier, but his government was only kept alive thanks to the tacit support of Le Pen. Macron’s attempts to defeat Le Pen had resulted in his government being left at her mercy.
Unfortunately for Macron and Barnier, Le Pen’s mercy ran thin. This year France’s debt to GDP ratio reached a high of 112% and showed no signs of slowing. PM Barnier in the 2025 budget proposed both spending cuts and tax hikes, measures that were vehemently opposed by both Le Pen and the NFP. To bypass parliament, Barnier utilized the 49.3 clause (a measure in the French constitution that enables the Prime Minister to force in legislature into law but also allows the opposition to issue a motion of no confidence in response), the move was the final straw for Le Pen and both left and right united against Barnier in a successful motion of no confidence, ending his 91-day tenure as prime minister and leaving France without a budget for 2025.
As of recently, Macron once again chose a prime minister from his camp, this time MoDem leader François Bayrou, who became France 4th prime minister of the year. Will this new prime minister be able to settle France’s political turmoil and set any budget? Or can Macron’s already bad year somehow get even worse?
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