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MARSEILLE, France (CN) — French President Emmanuel Macron is making a comeback as Europe confronts a future where unconditional U.S. support is not guaranteed.
As Europe rallies to strengthen its autonomy and defense capabilities, Macron has hosted multiple high-profile emergency summits in Paris, traveled to Washington to court U.S. President Donald Trump and generally positioned himself as commander-in-chief.
This is a drastic change from the past few months, when Macron was most often associated with political chaos at home: toppled governments, no budget and widespread calls for him to resign.
“He’s putting the debate on the military landscape and the conflict in Ukraine because, basically, it allows him to refocus the entire current political debate on international issues,” Luc Rouban, a senior research fellow at Sciences Po Paris, told Courthouse News. “Suddenly, we’re no longer talking about the deficit or the budgetary debt.”
On Thursday, Macron returned to the national landscape to bring ministers into the discussion on boosting France’s military budget, and finding the funds to do so. The meeting was on his turf, in the Élysée Palace, rather than at Matignon, where the prime minister hosts domestic policy meetings. Typically in France, the president is responsible for international affairs, while the prime minister handles domestic issues. Some French media report that this move shows Macron is gaining strength and confidence.
But the president’s positioning on Europe isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to the Ukraine conflict. The notion of a stronger, more autonomous bloc has been a big part of Macron’s narrative since he first became president in 2017.
“He’s really involved in the construction of a European policy of which he’d like to be the big boss, that’s for sure,” Rouban said. “He always made Europe a driving force behind his policy, even domestically — it has always been pro-European, it’s always the background of his speeches, of his positions, so the idea of creating a European defense is not new.”
But international conflict has certainly become a political advantage for Macron.
When he called for snap elections last summer — sending the government toppling into a monthslong spiral of censures, instability and upheaval — Macron’s reputation suffered enormously, as the decision was widely deemed a failure. His handling of tensions between the U.S. and Ukraine, and the resulting need for a stronger Europe, has restored some level of credibility.
Domestically, although his leadership on the international stage might be restoring a sense of confidence, some see his actions as putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. Not everyone is quick to forget the past few months.
“I’m in agreement with his international position,” Johanne, who asked to use only her first name, told Courthouse News from a wine shop in central Marseille. “In a crisis, I think he’s a president that’s reassuring, but he was very irresponsible with the dissolution of the government and I’m very against his right-wing politics.”
Johanne said that she’s happy to have a president who supports Ukraine. She agrees with his recent discourse about strengthening peace efforts. She made clear, though, that she makes a distinction between what he’s doing internationally versus what he has been doing in France.
“It doesn’t change my opinion on him, but let’s say because of what’s happening in the U.S., we’re obliged to confront things like defense and autonomy, while there are still issues like climate and people living in precarious conditions,” she said.
Pierre Allorant, a historian and political scientist at the University of Orléans, told Courthouse News that while Macron has gotten some points for his diplomatic approach, it doesn’t mean that this will reflect in the numbers of a future legislative election.
“He has regained some credibility because these are his exclusive domains — foreign affairs and defense,” he said. “That doesn’t mean, for example, that a new dissolution [of the government] would yield favorable results for the majority he previously had.”
Loïc Recorbre, a server at a café in Marseille, has lost all confidence.
“He needs to stop being president and representing our country,” he told Courthouse News. “He doesn’t make good political choices … He needs to get lost.”
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