France's unrest lays bare 'slow agony' of Macron's twilight months

FRANCE'S worst bout of civil unrest in years has plunged President Emmanuel Macron's final months in office deeper into turmoil, exposing the powerlessness of a leader struggling to contain social anger with little money to spend, scant political capital and an increasingly fragile grip on public order.

The rioting that swept across France on Saturday, leaving a trail of looted shops, torched buildings and defaced public institutions, presents Macron with perhaps the most explosive challenge of his twilight presidency: a country demanding more from a state that can no longer afford to give much.

Macron came to power almost a decade ago promising to upend France's sclerotic political class, turbocharge economic reforms and restore authority through a more assertive presidency.

Instead, with just six months left in office, he finds himself effectively a lame-duck head of state presiding over a country mired in political paralysis, facing acute financial pressures and grappling with unrest that has exposed the limits of state authority.

Unlike during the Yellow Vest uprising of 2018-2019, when Macron sought to defuse public anger with billions of euros in concessions, France's strained public finances and fractured parliament leave him with precious few levers to pull.

Even former allies are now openly scathing, tracing the country's current impasse to Macron's decision to call a snap parliamentary election in 2024 that weakened his authority.

"The end of this term is a slow agony," said Loïc Kervran, a former lawmaker from Macron's camp, on X.

"The president paralysed the country with his absurd decision to dissolve parliament in 2024. Arguably the worst decision in the history of the Fifth Republic."

The turmoil may benefit far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, who is already the frontrunner in the 2027 presidential race and stands to gain from both the anger over declining living standards and the fears over law and order unleashed by the weekend's violence.

"Le Pen no longer needs to spend any money to campaign," Jean-Baptiste Moreau, another former Macron lawmaker, told Reuters. "It's not just a clear path ahead of her — it's a six-lane highway."

Le Pen delivered her own message to the nation in a video statement on Sunday, portraying Macron's administration as a crumbling power and casting herself as the figure capable of restoring order.

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When Macron later addressed the country, he offered little concrete action, stopping short of declaring a state of emergency.

Opponents and one-time allies alike were underwhelmed. His former prime minister, Edouard Philippe, now preparing his own presidential run, was unsparing in his criticism.

"Mr President, I listened to you last night," he wrote on X. "I would have preferred, like millions of French people, decisions and initiatives to restore order."

But even Philippe is struggling to shake off his past association with Macron, and most recent polls show far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon edging ahead of him in the race to qualify for the second-round runoff vote.

That outcome would all but guarantee a Le Pen victory, according to opinion polls.

Investors also took fright. Market analysts say the violence adds another layer of political risk at a time when France is already under scrutiny over its swelling debt burden and struggle to reduce one of the euro zone's largest budget deficits.

The president now finds himself trapped between bond markets demanding spending restraint and protesters demanding the opposite.

Despite calls from opponents to remain in France, Macron arrived in Kuwait on Monday on a Gulf tour he says will help secure fuel supplies and ease some of the economic pressures that have helped swell the ranks of the protesters.

The trip carries risks, reinforcing perceptions of a president disconnected from the public mood.

Images of Macron attending a Celine Dion concert with his wife Brigitte on Friday evening, hours before the unrest erupted, prompted ridicule on social media and became an easy symbol for critics seeking to portray him as detached from events.

Moreau, who spoke to Macron on Sunday, said he urged him to prepare an orderly early departure to break the current political deadlock and avoid another six months of drift.

"He doesn't want to give up, that's not his character. But that's what he should do for the country," he said.