Macron’s Action Plan ‘Rings Hollow’ As Critics Take to The Streets Banging Pots and Pans

By Staff, Agencies

French President Emmanuel Macron has given himself “a hundred days” to mend his broken rapport with the French, aiming for a rebound after a grueling 100-day pension battle that has roiled the nation, infuriated millions, and deepened a crisis in French democracy.

The president’s latest reboot was, as expected, vintage Macron: the solemn tone striving for empathy, the talk of “better sharing wealth,” a reference to Napoleon’s “Hundred Days,” topped off by a parallel with the resurrection of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The image conveyed by the Paris landmark’s dizzying spire was perhaps an odd choice for a president facing chronic accusations of “vertical” governing, but contrition is not part of his repertoire.

“Never let go, such is my motto,” Macron said last week on a visit to Notre-Dame, stressing that he is on track to deliver on a pledge – widely mocked at the time – to repair the fire-stricken cathedral “within five years.”

His refusal to let go, or indeed give an inch, in the face of overwhelming opposition to his pension reform has left the country mired in a deep political crisis. It has handed the French president a Pyrrhic victory that now threatens to hamper the rest of his mandate.

In his primetime televised address on Monday night, Macron said he had “heard people’s anger” over his deeply unpopular push to raise France’s minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, while insisting that it was needed to keep the pension system afloat. He announced “100 days of appeasement, unity, ambition and action for France,” leading up to “Bastille Day” on July 14, France’s national holiday.

Even as he spoke, crowds of protesters gathered outside town halls across France, banging pots and pans in a bid to drown out the speech – under the rallying cry: “Macron won’t listen to us? We won’t listen to him!”