Why French soldiers are moving against Macron

Emmanuel Macron was in Strasbourg on Sunday where he addressed the Conference on the Future of Europe. This is where the President of France is happiest, describing the utopia that he still believes can be achieved by the EU. He feels important and powerful and he is among like-minded people, such as David Sassoli, president of the European parliament, who declared: ‘This conference is for ordinary citizens. Europe is not just for the elites, nor does it belong to them.’

There’s a touch of the Tony Blair in Macron’s canine devotion to the EU, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the President accomplishes what eluded the former British prime minister and one day becomes the President of Europe.

It would certainly be an easier life than running France. Barely had Sunday’s conference broken up before news broke of the publication of another open letter to Macron from the French military. A fortnight ago the conservative magazine Valeurs Actuelles published a letter from hundreds of retired soldiers warning the president that the country was going to pot; last night it was the turn of more than 2,000 serving soldiers to express their dismay at what they regard as the ruination of France.