Displaying items by tag: Emmanuel Macron

French president Emmanuel Macron has announced the withdrawal of French troops from Niger and the repatriation of the French ambassador, following a military coup in the country. He stated that France would end its military cooperation with the de facto authorities in Niger, citing their lack of commitment to fighting terrorism. The decision comes after weeks of tensions with the junta and a deteriorating situation. Macron specified that the soldiers stationed in Niger would return to France in an orderly manner over the coming weeks and months, with the goal of completing the withdrawal by the end of the year. The announcement was met with joy in Niamey, the capital of Niger, as thousands of people rallied in support. Macron's decisions were made in coordination with Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum, who remains under house arrest, and leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

French president Emmanuel Macron arrived on 6 April for a three-day state visit to China. President Xi Jinping greeted Macron on a huge red carpet lined by Chinese and French flags as the countries’ national anthems played. President Macron said, ‘The Russian aggression in Ukraine has dealt a blow to stability. I know I can count on you to bring back Russia to reason and everyone back to the negotiating table.’ Macron also said that Beijing can play a ‘major role’ in finding a path to peace in the conflict and welcomed China’s willingness to ‘commit to a resolution’. Macron, who was accompanied on his visit by the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, said he wants to ‘be a voice that unites Europe’ over Ukraine; coming to China with her served to ‘underline the consistency of this approach’.

France is in uncharted waters after President Emmanuel Macron lost his majority, with a large, shaky opposition bloc on the left and many more far-right lawmakers surging into the National Assembly. Just two months into his second five-year term, Macron has the narrowest majority in French political history and must govern through coalition-building. Marine Le Pen's strategy to turn her far-right party mainstream has succeeded, increasing its lawmakers almost tenfold and cementing the party's rise from fringe status to mainstream opposition. The largest opposition group can claim the privilege of chairing the National Assembly's finance committee - a strategic role because the committee's president sets the agenda, giving any opposition lawmaker determined to hamstring the majority a tool to do so. It also confers powers of inquiry, with access to tax and public spending documents usually off-limits. Marine Le Pen says she intends to lobby for this highly strategic post.

Vladimir Putin has told his French counterpart the shelling of the besieged city of Mariupol will only end when Ukrainian troops surrender. The key southern port city has been under heavy shelling for weeks. French officials said on 30 March that the Russian leader had agreed to consider plans to evacuate civilians from the city. They called the situation in the city ‘catastrophic’, adding that civilian populations must be protected and must leave the city if they wish. They must have access to food aid, water and medicine. France, Turkey, Greece and several humanitarian groups have presented Putin with a plan to evacuate the city. Officials said Putin told Emmanuel Macron that he will think about it. However after the talks with Ukraine the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, played down any hopes of a breakthrough. On 31 March Ukraine made another attempt to send aid and bring back evacuees.

France is threatening to block any UK-EU deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol unless the row over post-Brexit fishing licences is resolved in Paris’s favour. With presidential elections next year, he cannot afford to sell out his fishermen, as many hail from a stronghold of his rival Marine Le Pen. Macron has trodden this path before. In 2019, he blocked extending Brexit negotiations, risking a no deal to Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement. In 2020 he threatened to veto any Brexit trade deal that did not satisfy French fishermen, ratcheting up pressure on London. Judging by the negative reactions of the British fishing industry to the trade deal, the tactic worked. Now he is threatening extremely delicate negotiations over the NI Protocol. There is a greater risk now of the UK triggering Article 16 of the protocol than any time before. France also threatened to block the UK from joining the EU’s research programme. See

French healthcare workers now face suspension if they are not vaccinated against Covid-19. The demand affects all medical professionals and those working with vulnerable people (including nursing homes' non-medical staff). 86% of healthcare workers are fully inoculated, suggesting many are risking sanctions. Also a phased roll-out of a Covid pass has been introduced - attesting its holder had either been vaccinated, tested negative or recently recovered from Covid - to visit cultural and leisure venues, bars, restaurants, large events or use long-distance public transport. On 14 September 'Infringement of freedom' protests were held in Paris over these rules. Over 9,000 Covid-related hospitalisations did not deter protesters, whilst others showed up to vent their overall frustration with the tenure of President Emmanuel Macron. Over last weekend, in Paris alone, three different Covid-related demonstrations took place. See

The UK has accused France of the ‘offensive’ remark that Northern Ireland is not part of the UK. Since 2016 the two sides have been trying to work out how to deal with post-Brexit trade and Northern Ireland’s land border with the EU. The latest spat is centered on sausages. When Boris Johnson met Emmanuel Macron at the G7 summit, he asked him to imagine if Toulouse sausages were barred from sale in Paris, which left Macron ‘astonished’. He told him Toulouse is part of the same territory, and inaccurately said, ‘Northern Ireland was not part of the United Kingdom’. Johnson furiously replied, ‘Northern Ireland and Britain are part of the same country.’ After the testy exchange Johnson told the media, ‘Some of our friends seem to misunderstand that the UK is a single country and a single territory. I think they need to get that into their heads.’

In 2017 Emmanuel Macron won 66% of the vote to become France's youngest-ever president. It was the first time in half a century that France had a president from outside its two main political parties. An incumbent's first term in office usually defines his political identity and policy agenda. But three years into a five-year term, in trying to win support from a politically diverse electorate, Macron has failed to define his political agenda or his natural political base. With preparation for re-election in 2022 firmly on his mind, he faces a series of challenges. His LREM party took a thrashing in recent local elections, a clear rebuke for tying his potential next term to a robust environmental and social agenda. The crushing of LREM's candidate in Paris' mayoral race was particularly embarrassing for the party.

Doctors and lawyers marched in Paris on 3 February, demonstrating against President Macron's pension reforms. It is the latest in a wave of protests against Macron's signature reform, streamlining France's complex and expensive pension system that allows some French workers to retire as young as 50. It has led to more than sixty days of strikes and protests by many different people, including transport workers, women's groups, and those in the tourism and energy sectors. These protests have seen tourist attractions like the Eiffel Tower closed, and electricity and gas cut off by workers at energy plants. Macron hopes he can force his reform through parliament this month. Prime minister Edouard Philippe will negotiate with unions from 10 February to make the new retirement system financially sustainable.

Religion is again at the forefront of French public debate. After an 84-year-old former far-right candidate fired shots at a mosque in Bayonne, Emmanuel Macron evoked the French concept of ‘laïcité’ in a speech at the inauguration of a European Centre for Judaism. Defined as the concept of separation of church and state, it has also been at the centre of debates about wearing religious symbols in public. Macron said, ‘Laïcité is a tenet of fraternity that should live in each French person like a compass in their relationship to other citizens - that is essentially a form of French civility. I want to recall it at this moment in our nation's history, where these values of unity and cohesiveness are sometimes distorted and used by those who, seeking to sow hatred and division, use it to fight against this or that religion.’