An anniversary went unnoticed, Monday, October 24: the six months of Emmanuel Macron’s re-election. No cake, no reception, no one in Macronie would have had the idea of celebrating this date. Six months at the Élysée, 183 days and as many small political crises to manage since April 24, 2022, the day Emmanuel Macron recalled that he was going to be “the President of all”.
Since that day, it’s as if nothing had really gone as planned by his teams. The Eiffel Tower did not sparkle during his re-election speech. A few weeks later he did not have the absolute majority he had hoped for in the Assembly. The “new method” that he promised has not yet been proven. Nor did he see crises like the fuel crisis coming. And Monday’s episode with the motions of censure cruelly reminds him of a certain reality: he no longer has full control.
Is Emmanuel Macron at an impasse? Let’s say that he is at least stuck in a situation where he no longer has full powers to reform as he would like. The vote on the budget is only a foretaste. Emmanuel Macron had promised the compromise, he is already abusing 49.3. A weapon with no real stake on the budget, but on the next texts such as renewable energies, the immigration law, pensions, he will have to make choices. He will only be entitled to one forced pass.
So many brakes for a political action that is struggling to find clarity. Because in reality, that may be Emmanuel Macron’s main difficulty for six months: to demonstrate that he really has a political project for his second five-year term, that his re-election was not just a simple unprecedented performance under the 5th Republic, that its reform project works even when it is forced to create alliances to move forward.
A very black picture: Emmanuel Macron will have to deploy a titanic work in the coming months to maintain his influence and his political authority over his own government and his majority. There is also the way in which Emmanuel Macron finds himself in difficulty in a European Union under pressure in the face of the energy crisis. The interests of each other diverge, his voice counts but alliances are forged more and more without him.
In short, these six months were not a great milestone for Emmanuel Macron, with all these efforts of the executive as erased: whatever it costs, massive aid to allow France to have the one of the lowest inflations in Europe, a controlled price at the pump, renewed attractiveness.
Six months is just the beginning. This means that he has four and a half years left at the Elysée. But how much time is really useful for Emmanuel Macron?