One year of President Macron – what have we learnt? Short thread.
1. The Liberal Champion: he sees multilateralism and cooperation as key to solving global problems; many see him as the liberal champion par excellence. Global attention helped by relative absence of other players: UK (Brexit); Germany (until recently in coalition talks); Trump
2. The Traveller: continually on the move (30+ trips in his first year in office, compared to just 25 for President Hollande).
3. The Frenchman: international engagement important but like his predecessors, not afraid to speak out when he disagrees (for e.g., US pulling out of Paris Climate Accord & Iran nuclear deal).
4. Un homme d’action: under pressure to deliver change in France. Compared to previous quinquennats, Parliament been presented a significant number of bills. Why? Time is ripe. Macron’s party holds a majority in Assemblee Nationale + Les Rep/Parti Socialiste restructuring.
5. The cautious optimist: a strong EU (and Eurozone) is key to a strong France. But reality of EU politics is biting: you need Germany’s backing. Germany is ambivalent – France is disappointed. Not clear to me France has plan B if Germany fails to back Macron's reforms.
6. The coalition builder: one approach is to secure support from other EU countries (hence visits to Romania and Bulgaria). But again, not all support Macron’s reform agenda. Still, he is liked & respected by EU leaders so should use momentum ahead of 2019 EP elections.
