PARIS — Last week President Emmanuel Macron lodged a legal complaint against a photographer for harassment and invasion of privacy after the property where he and his wife Brigitte were vacationing, in the southern city of Marseille, was allegedly breached.
It was the latest instance of Macron, who worked to keep the holiday location secret before a weekly newspaper blew his cover, keeping the press at bay. Macron describes his presidency as “Jupiterian” — like the Roman god of heaven and sky — and his short time in office has been marked by keeping an interstellar distance from the free press.
Macron’s approach is telling as he wraps up his first 100 days in office. His dropping approval ratings underscore themes eerily similar to U.S. President Donald Trump. Macron has kept a tight grip on more than just the communications from the Elysee Palace. Opponents say his governance style has revealed a rigid, uncompromising leader intolerant of criticism — a far cry from the all-hands-on-deck scrappy start-up culture he portrayed he was a part of in his presidential campaign.
“I am your boss. … I need no pressure and no commentary,” Macron told military officers in an address last month. The scathing directive came after his 850-million-euro military cut attracted criticism from the country’s chief of the armed forces, General Pierre de Villiers.
De Villiers, more than 20 years Macron’s senior, resigned shortly after.
In Parliament, Macron’s party enjoys an enviable majority but faces a backlash from the public, opposition lawmakers and the country’s powerful trade unions for proposals to reform France‘s stultifying labor laws and trim the budget deficit, including cuts to an allowance for housing. Public spending accounts for 57 percent of gross domestic product, tied with Finland as the highest proportion among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a grouping of wealthy nations.
Macron’s dipping poll numbers illustrate the growing skepticism of the public: An Ifop poll published earlier this month shows he has just a 36 percent approval rating. Even Francois Hollande, his predecessor who was spectacularly unpopular when he left office, had higher ratings than Macron at this point in his term.
“The discontent is probably linked to a discrepancy felt between the tone of the (Macron) campaign and the implementation of his policy once elected president,” said Jérôme Fourquet of Ifop in an interview with the French website Atlantico. He attributed Macron’s lowered rating in part to his failure to immediately lower a housing tax — a campaign promise.
Still, little can take away from the fact that Macron rewrote the French political playbook. He vaulted to the top job as an outsider with no major party backing. Even now, left-wing and conservative politicians struggle to muster a hearty opposition. That may change in the fall when the government pushes through tough economic policy changes. One trade union has already vowed to protest. (Demonstrations have crippled reforms in the past.)
Even as he faces an intimidating domestic agenda, Macron has embraced a more high-profile role as a leader on the world stage. So far, he’s swung open France’s opulent doors for meetings with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He’s posed as a peacemaker, mediating a cease-fire between two Libyan factions, and hosting the leaders of Israel and Palestine. He’s chatted with Bono about poverty and with Rihanna about getting kids back into school.
Later this month, he’s scheduled to visit Eastern European countries, to better protect the wages of French workers in an ongoing dispute. Those meetings will be followed by talks with the leaders of Germany, Spain and Italy, bolstering a key part of his agenda for a firmer, more united Europe. So far, his busy international itinerary, while held at a distance from the media, has featured prominently on his official Twitter page.
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Emmanuel Macron’s Approval Ratings Dip Among Mounting Challenges originally appeared on usnews.com
