Analysis: As world breathes sigh of relief, Macron’s hard work starts now | Rob Harris
Emmanuel Macron has been returned, so much of the world – and at least 58 per cent of France – will breathe a sigh of relief.
French President and centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron greets well-wishers after casting his vote in Le Touquet, northern France, Sunday.But the real danger for mainstream politics is that the perception that Macron is arrogant – and it is widespread – will be reinforced rather than tempered by his re-election, which is remarkably the first by an incumbent in 20 years.
They are turbo-charged by social media and a fragmented media market where political parties are adopted like football teams and loyalty is sworn to policies just like team colours. He has been, by any objective view, a good leader for France. He set out to transform through a big agenda. Domestically, he overhauled the labour market, making hiring and firing easier, and by doing so, unemployment fell to its lowest level in 13 years – from 10 per cent to 7.4 per cent. It’s just shy of the ambitious target of 7 per cent set in his original manifesto.
Although the freshness of his personality and his “outsider” qualities underpinned the appeal that vaulted him to his first election win, he entered this contest viewed as the establishment. Both the radical left and far-right loathe him. Even his most strident supporters would say the past five years haven’t been perfect.
But Macron’s record doesn’t really enthuse climate campaigners. His biggest advantage was that he was running against a right-wing nationalist who denounced net zero targets and pledged to dismantle wind farms and place a moratorium on new wind and solar power.And while he appeared at COP26 and a series of major summits as a climate warrior, successive assessments showed France wasn’t reducing greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet its objectives under the Paris climate agreement.
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