asked Renaud Foccart, a senior lecturer in economics at Lancaster University, while campaigning on a bold reform platform in 2017, and now vying for “symbolic power” in the fall of his presidency. Mr. Focard asserts that the French president is likely to shy away from early elections and simply “postpone things down the road” to keep the far right at bay until 2027. Mr. Focard says he is “puzzled” by the president’s “Groundhog Day” strategy: naming a slew of center-right prime ministers, one by one, whose parties received the smallest share in parliament. “Macron seems to be trying the same thing over and over again. And now there’s word on the street: Maybe he’ll bring back Jean-Louis Borloo!” In 2017-2018, President Macron asked Jean-Louis Borloo to prepare a major report on the “Plan des Bans” for the Greater Paris suburbs (164 pages, 19 proposals) on social inclusion, urban regeneration, and the national reconciliation agenda. Macron has ceremoniously disdained Borloo in a very public way. Now, Mr. Foccart says, Macron is “ready to humiliate him again: Oh, you can take Matignon.” And do you know what? He will be in a position where he cannot do anything at all.” It has all the makings of a true French-style Greek tragedy: is Macron just “giving the keys to the country” to Bardella and the far right?
[og_img]
Source link