Le bromance: Macron has fallen under Boris’s spell

Montpellier

When Emmanuel Macron was elected just over two and a half years ago, his ambitions stretched a long way. He described the presidential role as being like Jupiter, and believed that the momentum that took him to the Elysée would excite forces far beyond France’s borders. He hoped to deliver a ‘European renaissance’ that would overhaul the continent’s political structures. Only last year, he addressed a letter to the ‘citizens of Europe’ describing his vision of renewal.

But he might have noticed by now that even in France his hold seems rather tenuous. And at present, the country is not a great advert for Macronism. In recent weeks we’ve had transportation paralysed, hundreds of cars burning in the suburbs, violent demonstrations in the cities, whiffs of tear gas in the Métro and police beating protesters. Train drivers, air traffic controllers, nurses, opera singers and ballet dancers have gone on strike. Even the lawyers have joined in.