Six months on, Macron unpopular but in control

Paris, France | AFP | In his first six months in power, French President Emmanuel Macron has chalked up one reform after another in a whirlwind that has nevertheless seen his poll numbers plummet.

The former investment banker’s stunning rise cast aside France’s traditional left and right, creating a solid centrist front for his new Republic on the Move (REM) party.

In short order, the 39-year-old has scored three major legislative triumphs, beginning with a law to clean up politics, followed by flagship reforms to France’s complex labour code and a controversial anti-terror law.

The labour reforms sparked strikes and street protests, but they paled in comparison with those that have thwarted similar attempts by his predecessors.

But the young leader’s zeal for reforms — and the use of executive decrees to overhaul the labour code, seen as a strong-arm tactic — has come with a cost.

The man who won two-thirds of the vote in May has an approval rating of just 32 percent in a YouGov poll out November 2.

But insiders says his poll standings do not worry him.

– Long-term view –

“He has a very long-term outlook and won’t give up,” one close associate said.

The 2017 election left Hollande’s Socialist Party in disarray, while the right-wing Republicans party is split between those who joined Macron’s REM, such as Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, and those who want to stay in opposition.

Macron faces a tricky balancing act as he seeks to lower taxes while also slashing the deficit — something he sees as key to earning credibility with European leaders as he pushes for ambitious EU reforms.

Next on Macron’s frenetic agenda are reforms to unemployment insurance, professional training, housing policy and academic selection.

Also in the pipeline are pension reform and a move to shrink parliament, where 577 people sit in the lower house and another 348 in the indirectly elected Senate.

Coming after two unpopular one-term presidents — the ineffectual Francois Hollande, preceded by the brash Nicolas Sarkozy — Macron is seeking to restore grandeur to the office and return France to prominence on the world stage.