36 Europe The Economist May 7th 2022
Macron2.0
C
lasping handsand squeezing shoulders, Emmanuel Macron
lingered for hours amid a crowd of wellwishers in a little mar
ket town at the foot of the Pyrenees, just days after he was reelect
ed. At the end of a divisive campaign, the French president’s trip
was designed as a show of healing and listening. The technocratic
slayer of populism could still connect with the people, the visit
implied, and the secondterm president would now listen to them
more, too. It was time, Mr Macron declared, for reconciliation, and
a “new method” of consultative government: “We can’t resolve
everything from làhaut(on high).”
From the leader who clambered up to grand heights to begin
his presidency in 2017, this marks something of a turnaround. The
centrist, it seems, has taken the full measure of what is at stake
during what is probably his final term. (The constitution allows
only two consecutive ones.) For Mr Macron’s challenge is typical
of those facing liberal democrats across Europe as they seek to
hold the centre against the forces of populism. And France, the eu
ro zone’s secondbiggest economy, is a test case that matters. By
2027, if Mr Macron holds on to his majority at parliamentary elec
tions next month, the then 49yearold may well leave behind him
a decade of stable, competent government at the heart of Europe.
In France, a country outsiders like to think is always on the brink
of collapse, this would be quite a result.
Yet France also emerges from this election fractured and frag
ile. Mr Macron is politically triumphant. But as he recognised, he
owes his victory in part to those who wanted to keep out his oppo
nent, the populistnationalist Marine Le Pen. Her campaign
tapped into, and stirred up, the humiliation and anger that many
French voters feel. If Mr Macron cannot find a way to address po
litical disenchantment, and entrench the democratic centre, in
five years’ time the young political retireemay hand over a France
readier than ever to put a radical populist in power.
Nobody charges Mr Macron with lacking competence, serious
ness, intellect or imagination. He has some work to do to improve
the sharing of wealth, although the record is not bad. To live up to
his government’s postpartisan billing, he needs to rebalance it to
wards the greens and the left. But the main complaint is about Mr
Macron’s solitary exercise of power, and the impression he cangiveofdisdainingthelessableorlucky. How might a Macron pres
idency 2.0 listen more and dictate less?
One challenge will be to soften the style that accompanies the
philosophy. Mr Macron’s political thinking is centred on the con
cept of “emancipation”: creating fairer opportunities for individ
uals to improve their lives, while maintaining a strong safetynet
for those who stumble. He has invested in better early education
and nutrition in poor areas, and vastly expanded apprenticeship
schemes. Such projects are laudable and overdue. But they take
time to show results, and will leave some behind. The impression
of disrespect for those who still struggle undermines the genuine
investment in making sure they do not.
Another option to alleviate the feeling of voicelessness would
be to give people more of a say in between elections. Mr Macron
has talked about setting up a citizens’ assembly to discuss assisted
dying, like the one Ireland used to discuss whether and how to le
galise abortion. (He set up a similar one on climate change after
the gilets jaunesprotests, with mixed results.) He could encourage
more local experimentation in the running of schools, say, in de
fiance of the country’s Jacobin reflexes. He might also seek to
make parliament more representative. Ms Le Pen won 41.5% of the
vote, her best total ever; yet in the National Assembly her party
holds just seven seats. Mr Macron tried in 2019 to introduce a dose
of proportional representation, but was blocked by the Republi
cancontrolled Senate. A crossparty commission might help to
reach a consensus this time round.
Mr Macron will also have to work with the country’s testy un
ions. He wants to raise the pension age from 62 years to 64 or 65,
and get teachers to do more for better pay. But he cannot simply
impose such reforms. Michel Rocard, a Socialist exprime minis
ter and onetime mentor to the young Mr Macron, argued that the
decline in France of both the Catholic church and the Communist
Party, which once lent structure and purpose to society, rendered
institutions such as unions more important, not less. They may
have fewer members these days, but they still have clout. Talks
will be tough. Even moderate leaders reject Mr Macron’s pension
plan. He will need unusual finesse if he is to consult more while
still fulfilling the pledges for which he was elected.Au revoir là-haut
Perhaps the greatest challenge, though, will be to Mr Macron him
self. By constitutional right, he has made full use of the powers of
the presidency under France’s Fifth Republic. By temperament, he
keeps an eye on everything. This is a president who devours dos
siers, pores over public policy and studies subjects independently
to fill in the gaps carelessly left by others. Even his admirers say Mr
Macron is not always an easy boss. Perhaps this is why it has taken
him so long to name a new prime minister, a post that Rocard once
called “hell”. The reelected president will have to wrestle with
that instinct if he is to fulfil his promise to govern differently.
The test of Macron 2.0 is in part the same one that faces every
European leader: how to make the economy fairer, greener and
more competitive at a time of war, inflation and soaring energy
prices. For Mr Macron it is also whether he can strike the right bal
ance between ensuring policy coherence and efficiency on the one
hand, and avoiding dictating and lecturing on the other. Nobody,
however talented, can do everything alone or get everything right.
And if delegation does not come easily toMrMacron, there is a
reason. As he reminds anybody who carestoask,had he listened
to others he would not be where he is today. nCharlemagne
France’s reelected president wants to govern differently. That means curbing his own instincts