By Toby J. Shay
Emmanuel Macron has made headlines recently for two somewhat dichotomous reasons. The first came on Tuesday the 8th of June when the French President was slapped while on his campaign trail in La Drôme, a department in southeast France. The second occurred only a few days later during the G7 summit in Cornwall on Saturday the 12th of June when the French head of state made an assertive solicitation that the UK should respect the agreements of the Brexit deal. These two events highlight the curious contrast between the attitude of the French public towards their President in their own country and his own resolute leadership on the international stage.
On the 8th of June President Macron visited the French department of La Drôme, one of the many stops on his “tour of the territories of France” ("tour de France des territoires"), which he is undertaking as part of his presidential campaign ahead of the 2022 elections. During an impromptu walkabout in the town of Tain-l'Hermitage in the department, the President was slapped in the face by a male member of the public. The exact motive behind the slap is uncertain, although it is clear the perpetrator and his compatriots were obviously discontented with the current French government as in the video of the altercation, which afterwards went viral, cries of “Down with Macrony!” ("À bas la macronie!")[1] can be heard. In a later interview with the regional newspaper of Le Dauphiné Libéré, President Macron described it as an “isolated incident” (“faits isolés")[2] and also stated:
“I wouldn't want isolated individuals or people who go to extremes to somehow overshadow everyone else” ("Je ne voudrais pas que des individus isolés ou des gens qui vont vers les extrêmes puissent, en quelque sorte, faire oublier le reste")[2]
Although this is undoubtedly a one-off incident as the French President proclaimed, protests and demonstrations that have taken place during Macron’s term in office do not assuredly corroborate that this confrontation on the 8th of June “overshadows everyone else” but was rather an action which arguably embodies the dissatisfaction of many members of the French population. The principal movement which most emphatically exemplifies the despondency of the French people with the domestic policies of their government is that of the Yellow Vests (Les Gilets Jaunes). Despite the fact that this group was established in protest against the rise in the motor vehicle fuel costs as a result of the increase in the domestic consumption tax on energy products (TICPE), in the final quarter of 2018, its grievances quickly expanded and evolved to the extent that they demanded that President Macron resign. In spite of this, the President of France has shown his unwavering resolve as a leader internationally only a few days later at the G7 summit in Cornwall. On Saturday the 12th of June President Macron outlined a staunch request to Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the British government must comply with the accords made in the Brexit deal in relation to the bureaucracy of trade between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain over the Irish Sea. The pressures placed on Boris Johnson by President Macron were supported by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who later tweeted:
“The Good Friday Agreement & peace on the island of Ireland are paramount. We negotiated a Protocol that preserves this, signed & ratified by GB & EU. We want the best possible relations with the UK. Both sides must implement what we agreed on. There is complete EU unity on this.”[3]
This dispute has been labelled by the media as “the sausage war” given that the UK government indicated that the proposals made by President Macron would jeopardise the supply of English sausages to Northern Ireland, even though this is likely to be an intentionally oversimplified example of trade across the Irish sea. However, to prove President Macron's definite standpoint on this issue, regardless of how facetious or banal the British government's conjectures of a sausage shortage in Northern Ireland may seem, which were possibly highlighted in an attempt to down tread the French Presidents comments, he declared:
"If, after six months, you say that we cannot respect what has been negotiated, it means that nothing can be respected. I believe in the weight of a treaty; I believe in seriousness. Nothing is negotiable. Everything is applicable." (“Si, après six mois, vous dites que nous ne pouvons pas respecter ce qui a été négocié, cela signifie que rien ne peut être respecté. Je crois au poids d'un traité, je crois au sérieux. Rien n'est négociable. Tout est applicable.”)[4]
This statement is clear evidence of President Macron putting his foot down, metaphorically speaking. It emphasises that however awkward and knit-picky the UK government may try to make the French President appear, he is no push-over on the world stage, even if he does not seem to fully appreciate the complexity of the relationship between the devolved nations forming one sovereign United Kingdom. This is not the first occasion that President Macron has displayed his firmness internationally. During the Brexit negotiations, given his stance as an ardent Europhile, he was notoriously uncompromising. This was most clearly illustrated by his resistance to a settlement in regard to fishing quotas and the frontiers of British territorial waters. With the French presidential elections rapidly approaching what will these two recent events mean for President Macron’s future? What will the French electorate prioritise? Do they want a President who will deliver upon their desires domestically or who will stand up for their nation on an international stage? The current election polls do not make the answers to these questions any more obvious as Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Penn, leader of the far-right political party National Rally (Rassemblement National), are now neck and neck. Will the French electorate be tempted to cast their vote in favour of Marine Le Pen, the self-proclaimed solution to the peoples’ populist cries, vowing to put France first? Or will they be swayed by Emmanuel Macron’s steadfast presence internationally?
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1 @AlexpLille, Twitter, 1 :15pm 8th June 2021 https://twitter.com/AlexpLille/status/1402237903376367627
2 ”Emmanuel Macron réagit après la gifle : « Ne laissons pas des individus ultraviolents prendre possession du débat public. Ils ne le méritent pas »” Emmanuel Macron, Le Dauphiné libéré, 8th June 2021, https://www.ledauphine.com/politique/2021/06/08/emmanuel-macron-reagit-apres-la-gifle-ne-laissons-pas-des-individus-ultraviolents-prendre-possessions-du-debat-public-ils-ne-le-meritent-pas
3 Ursula von der Leyen, @vonderleyen, Twitter, 10:32am 12th June 2021 https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1403646281101283329
4 ”Macron prévient Johnson que « rien n’est négociable » sur le protocole d’Irlande du Nord | Brexit” Emanuel Macron, FR24 News, 10th June 2021 https://www.fr24news.com/fr/a/2021/06/macron-previent-johnson-que-rien-nest-negociable-sur-le-protocole-dirlande-du-nord-brexit.html
Image Source : Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and France's President Emmanuel Macron attend a bilateral meeting during G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, Britain, June 12, 2021. Stefan Rousseau/Pool via REUTERS
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