Emmanuel Macron has saved himself from political crisis – for now

Back in December, Emmanuel Macron was a man on edge. His poll numbers were spiralling down the toilet; hundreds of thousands of French who felt alienated from their government were taking to the streets to shout down the French elite in cities and towns across the country; and fires were burning all around Paris. Police officers and protesters-turned-rioters were on the frontlines trading rocks and rubber bullets, resulting in hundreds (if not thousands) of arrests. Macron, the blue-eyed, fresh-faced technocratic politician who marketed himself during the 2017 presidential contest as the Fifth French Republic’s aspiring saviour, was left twiddling his thumbs in the presidential mansion wondering how to address the turmoil around him.

Then came an idea that would provide Macron with some breathing space: why not launch a ‘great debate’ throughout the country to learn why so many ordinary, working-class French citizens were disgusted with the state of things? It was an unoriginal but brilliant concept.