Why is Macron's popularity crumbling?
The Elysée Palace has commended Emmanuel Macron's first 100 days in office noting that the French president has passed three important laws and displayed strong leadership on the international stage. Macron is, however, less popular than his two predecessors at the 100-day mark. Commentators are also at odds over his performance.
France has earned its ruin
Macron will not be able to stop France's decline, according to the director of the wealth management company Katleya Gestion in Le Temps:
“Macron should have transformed France into a tax haven in order to attract business and capital from across the globe, by immediately cutting taxes and social security contributions by a third. But the French bureaucracy is keeping a close eye on things. ... So France will continue to 'vegetate' of its own volition. The country is too leftist, too anti corporate prosperity, too opposed to labour market flexibility: France is frightening. …The destruction of numerous companies - through aggressive social contributions and taxation - combined with numerous regulations has never been a ticket to national prosperity. … So growth will continue to take place elsewhere.”
The French are ungovernable
Macron's sudden plunge in popularity proves for the Irish Times just how fickle the French are:
“The French president has made strategic errors, particularly in communicating his vision, but his fall from grace is due more to his compatriots' character. ... There is, alas, a great deal of truth to stereotypes about the perennially dissatisfied, ungovernable French. The desire to 'burn what one has worshipped' is a national trait, recorded at the coronation of King Clovis in the fifth century. ... The world envies France its brilliant, dynamic, young president. The French appear determined to destroy him.”
A moral boost for struggling Macron
El País stresses that the main goal behind Macron's law on the "moralisation of politics" aimed at ending clientelism and restoring trust is to score points with the French people:
“Even if the law falls short of the expectations of Transparency International, it gives Macron the chance to prove he is serious about restoring integrity. And at the same time he can display his efficiency thanks to a law that few have openly criticised. This is most convenient for a president who has seen his popularity ratings plummet only three months after entering the Élysée and who faces a tough autumn of strong resistance to new laws like the labour market reform.”