Macron Alone: Has the French President Overplayed His Hand?

Macron wants to lead the European Union into the 21st Century. But he will succeed only if he does not go too far. If he overplays his hand, he will open himself up to a challenge from some other rising political leader.

That could happen whenever Germany emerges from its domestic political malaise, if other member states decide to form a coalition against France, or if Macron alienates too many key players within the EU. The greater Macron's ambitions, the higher the risk to his political future.

Politically, Macron is a contradiction in terms. A vocal anti-populist who employs populist tools, he has dismissed traditional political parties and called for politicians to be replaced by ordinary people.

Accordingly, he insists that his La République En Marche ! is not, in fact, a political party, and that he is neither of the left nor the right.

The main difference is that his program is not nationalist but pro-European, almost cosmopolitan, and that he opposes other populists. But his pro-European stance goes only as far as French economic interests allow, as he demonstrated when selecting nominees for the EU's top jobs earlier this year. 

Moreover, it is worth remembering that Macron led the push for tighter regulations on "posted workers" — particularly those from Poland and Hungary — back in 2017, and that his toughest attack on Central and Eastern European populists was delivered from a French Whirlpool factory that was scheduled to move to Poland.

Politically, Macron is a contradiction in terms. A vocal anti-populist who employs populist tools, he has dismissed traditional political parties and called for politicians to be replaced by ordinary people.

Macron may sincerely want deeper European...

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