Editor’s Picks: France on the Brink, Macron in the Spotlight!
Local Editor
With nearly a month on the “Yellow Vests” protests breakout across France, French President Emmanuel Macron has been struggling to survive, with a little effort to compromise or fix the errors seen by the people on the levels of rising fuel prices, the high cost of living and a disproportionate burden of the government's tax reforms.
Commenting on the issue, world media discussed the latest on the French platform. Selecting some of the voices of today’s editions, we came up to you with the following:
The Independent considered the situation in France is spreading to Europe, making it “a dangerous place”.
For all of Europe’s many crises – Italian debt, migration, troublesome eastern states, Brexit – it seemed until relatively recently that its political leadership was at least strong and stable, to borrow a phrase. As Angela Merkel’s 18-year reign in Germany drew towards a slightly anti-climactic finale, the emergence of the energetic, charismatic new president of France, Emmanuel Macron, seemed to promise at least another firm hand pointing the way. Now that Merkel’s Christian Democrats have chosen the favorite to succeed her, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the French seem equally set on replacing Emmanuel Macron, though in a rather less orderly fashion. Suddenly, Europe is entering a new, more dangerous phase in its development, and with an increasingly weak sense of purpose.
Inflamed by propaganda and fake news stories about France becoming some sort of internationally designated dumping ground for millions of migrants, some sound as if they want nothing less than the resignation of the president himself – and will pursue all means to make it happen. Others simply want Macron to lay off, and, somehow, rearrange France’s economic affairs so that working people can once again enjoy the rising standard of living they have come to expect. The shades of similar political movements in America and elsewhere in Europe are perfectly apparent. Indeed, in much more muted form, the same problems led to the collapse in support for Germany’s mainstream parties in recent national and regional elections.
For her part, Angelique Chrisafis wrote for The Guardian that the “Gilets Jaunes” were unimpressed by Macron’s appeal from behind a gold desk
It was the most important TV appearance of Macron’s presidency: the 40-year-old former banker had to prove to an angry nation that he was not an arrogant “president of the rich” and that he understood ordinary French people’s struggle to make ends meet.
Yet Macron’s choice to deliver his prerecorded speech on social inequality from one of the most opulent and golden rooms in the luxurious, 365-room Élysée Palace was not lost on gilets jaunes protesters who have been occupying protest barricades on rural roundabouts.
Indeed, the Élysée Palace, the French presidential residence and workplace that is twice the size of the US White House and costs €104m [$117m] a year to run, has been the object of fury during the protests. The demonstrations, which began as a citizens’ revolt against a proposed fuel tax on 17 November have quickly morphed into wider anti-government demonstrations against inequality.
On the barricades, many have been critical of the Macrons for redecorating some rooms in the palace – including the main reception room where new carpets will cost €300,000 [$340000].
Macron chose to announce his measures aimed at calming the gilets jaunes protests by speaking from the traditional presidential office known as the salon doré, with its gold decorations.
On the other side, The New York Times Editorial Board considered Macron blinking.
For a young president who swept to power with a resounding majority a scant 19 months ago at the head of a movement that promised to put the republic “on the move,” it was a painful moment, especially since it remained unclear whether his concessions would defuse the revolt of the “Yellow Vests” [whom he never mentioned]. But it was not a surrender: The 13-minute address contained no apology and no sign that Macron had any intention of abandoning his economic program.
Macron insists he has absorbed the message of the Yellow Vests and will pay heed to the ordinary citizens whose tax-eaten income barely stretches to the end of the month. Less clear is whether the demonstrators, whose Saturday invasions of Paris and other major cities have had no single organizer or common agenda, will be satisfied. And if the Saturday protests continue, the demonstrations are likely to be increasingly hijacked by violence-prone thugs.
The violence around the protests has led to enormous losses for commerce and tourism in the prime pre-Christmas season, and the government’s concessions, including the cancellation of a fuel price increase, will cost the government billions.
But it would be a far greater catastrophe for France if Macron were unable to stay the course on his structural reforms, which are critical if the country is to prod an economy that has already slowed to a 1.8 percent annual growth rate and continues to cool. The problem is that the benefits of Macron’s policies might not be evident for some time, and the Yellow Vests want action now.
Relatively, The Local France considered that 'Macron has moved and now it is the time for the 'yellow vests' to move off'.
One poll, carried out by Opinionway, said 54 percent of those surveyed wanted the protest to stop, while 45 percent wanted it to continue.
A second poll, carried out Odoxa, showed nearly reverse figures, with 46 percent wanting them to stop and 54 percent wanting the protests to continue.
Both polls revealed a major shift in public opinion overall.
More than two out of three French people had previously supported the grassroots movement which sprang up in opposition to fuel taxes but snowballed into broad opposition to Macron's pro-business agenda.
The Local's own survey of readers also reflected the divided opinion although most of those who responded believed it was time the yellow vests ended their rebellion.
Source: Al-Ahed News