(CN) — French President Emmanuel Macron's political fortunes, brought to the brink by months of massive and violent protests in Paris, are on the rise again and the brash liberal reformist is, remarkably, poised to become Europe's most important politician.
A confluence of factors, and Macron's own political savvy, are providing the 42-year-old president with grounds for relief and even confidence, even as he remains deeply unpopular.
He heads into the summer holding sway in a number of major issues, including deciding who will become the next president of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, and how Brexit-paralyzed Great Britain will behave in regard to Europe.
His political upswing can be traced to his ability to quell — for now, at least — the unrest and unruliness brought about by the Yellow Vest movement, which at times seemed setting the stage for a new French revolution.
Macron's neoliberal and middle-class urban agenda — and his image as the gap-toothed smiling former investment banker — were the focus of so much anger in France. The protesters, supported by Macron's political opponents on the left and right, demanded he resign.
In large part, he quieted the insurrection by dropping some of his reforms but also by partially embracing the protest movement and adopting its language.
For several weeks, Macron's poll numbers have been inching back up. Last month, French opinion polls found Macron with a 40% popularity rating — a big turnaround. After he took office in 2017, Macron enjoyed the support of more than 60% of French people, but that dipped into the mid-20s, the political graveyard zone, over the winter.
He won the presidency on a platform of pledges to renew France's sagging economy and global standing while making Europe stronger and more unified. But his popularity sank in 2018, precipitated by a scandal involving his bodyguard caught on video dressed as a police officer and violently manhandling protesters at May Day manifestations.
By last Christmas, Macron was in freefall. His charm had worn off. The Yellow Vest movement, which began as roadside protests in rural France over fuel taxes, were in full swing and had brought central Paris to its knees. In awe, the world watched as protesters stormed government buildings, burned cars, clashed with riot police and ransacked the Arc de Triomphe.
Columnists wrote Macron off: Smug and isolated inside his presidential palace, the Elysee, it looked like the “Macron effect” had run its course.
Top ministers and allies were jumping ship; his brand new party, the Republic on the Move, was at risk of losing its grip in parliament; and his opponents, chief among them far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her National Rally, sensed blood in the waters and attacked him mercilessly.
But Macron is clawing his way back.
On a personal level, he's done that with a strategy to dispel the image French have of him as a Jupiter-like and aloof president with his head in the clouds.
To achieve that, he vowed to listen to the concerns of the protesters and in January opened an innovative nationwide listening and talking session — the so-called Great National Debate. He's spent a lot of time meeting people around France and in his videos he can be seen holding hands for long stretches as he listens earnestly and talks.
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