Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (background) is seeking to replace Emmanuel Macron (foreground). Photo: EPA.
51% of French people are in favour of Emmanuel Macron’s resignation, Le Monde reports, citing data from an Ipsos survey. And the longer the French president delays the appointment of a prime minister, worsening the political crisis, the more dissatisfied they are with him.
According to BFMTV, the name of the future prime minister could finally be announced this afternoon. However, even if this happens, several French politicians believe that the main result of the current crisis is the end of the era of Macronism, which has lasted since 2017.
The Ipsos poll was conducted in the last week of July. Even then, 53% of respondents were dissatisfied with the president’s work and 51% longed for his resignation. Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly, which led France into a political dead end, was rated as wrong by 67% of French people.
51% of French people support the resignation of Emmanuel Macron. Photo: EPA.
Since then, the country’s weariness with the confusion over the prime minister and discontent over the crisis into which Macron plunged France has only intensified. After the president rejected Lucie Castet, the leftist New Popular Front candidate for prime minister, France Invicta announced that it would seek the country’s leader’s dismissal. On the Internet, petitions from supporters of this idea are multiplying. Mass demonstrations against Macron’s policies have been announced for September 7. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said at the end of June that only the president’s resignation could be a “possible way out of the political crisis.”
Now that the appointment of a new prime minister in France, which is divided between three political forces, is increasingly reminiscent of the fable “The Swan, the Crab and the Pike”, such a way out of the deadlock no longer seems unlikely. The leading candidates for the vacant post, the Republican Xavier Bertrand and the Socialist Bernard Cazeneuve, did not embody the desired compromise. Both the left and the right threaten to block the prime minister’s work as soon as he takes office. Even if the French leader succeeds in approving an acceptable candidate and guiding him between the left Scylla and the right Charybdis, there is already a feeling that the main problem is Macron himself.
Even former comrades, sensing the “smell of blood,” are pushing Macron’s seemingly exhausted project to the brink of the abyss. The prime minister of his first cabinet from 2017 to 2020, Edouard Philippe, long considered a potential successor, in the midst of a political crisis, announced that he would stand for the 2027 presidential election – but, beware, “I’m ready for early elections!” The founder of the Horizons party, part of Macron’s bloc, finally distanced himself from the president in the summer, criticising Macron for the dissolution of parliament. Philippe said that with his decision he “killed the presidential majority” and called for the creation of “a new majority on a different basis.”
Edouard Philippe says he is “ready for early elections”. Photo by: ZumaTASS.
Republican leader Eric Sciotti added fuel to the fire by saying: “I saw that Mr Philippe announced his candidacy last night, perhaps this means that he too believes that the only solution is the departure of Mr Macron.”
The president of the Republican faction in the Senate, Bruno Retayo, also believes that Felipe’s statement “marks the end of Macronism.” “France has just suffered a collapse. There is no majority in the National Assembly. There is no prime minister. There is no government. There is no budget on the table and we see someone presenting plans for 2027. But are the French today worried about the year 2027?” said the senator, apparently hinting at possible early presidential elections.
French Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure called the timing of Philippe’s announcement “curious.” “We clearly see that the former presidential majority is completely disintegrating. The knives are already out. And the fact that former Prime Minister Macron is already dreaming of early elections shows his confidence that this will happen,” Faure said.
Given the extremely divided parliament, the opposition is unlikely to succeed in removing Macron. However, as we have already seen with the example of Joe Biden, sometimes his closest collaborators, after assessing the situation, can sacrifice their leader without a guilty conscience. Especially now, when Macron, who considers himself Jupiter the Bull, is turning into a “going duck”.
Judging by the leaks to the media, neither outgoing Prime Minister Attal nor many senior ministers have forgiven Macron for his summer antics. The era of Macronism is coming to an end at the instigation of its own arrogant creator. At such a time, the temptation is too great to continue the series of miraculous reincarnations, turning the “lame duck” into a “scapegoat.”
