PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is struggling to find his bearings since his new government took office earlier this month, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Macron, who came to office seven years ago with a vision of a top-down “Jupiterian” approach to the French presidency, has seen his grip on power wane since Prime Minister Michel Barnier unveiled his new team. The new government is made up of staunch conservatives in addition to members of Macron’s centrist coalition.
“Mechanically decisions don’t go up the chain of command as much as before, the data is not quite so precise and the conversations with ministers aren’t as sharp,” said a historic ally of the president, who, like others quoted here, was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
The ally said there is a “a vacuum effect” at the top.
A centrist parliamentary adviser said that Macron’s advisers are feeling the effects of Barnier’s new regime too. “[They] have lost 50 percent of their work and have been removed from cross-ministry meetings,” the adviser said.
Macron appointed Barnier, the European Union’s former chief Brexit negotiator, as his prime minister in early September to break the political deadlock that followed a snap election over the summer. That contest delivered big wins for the left and far right, but with no political force nearing an absolute majority, a fractured parliament emerged.
Macron’s choice of a veteran conservative prime minister means he is now in the strange position of sharing power with the right, even if Barnier’s government includes some of the president’s centrist allies.
As reported by POLITICO last week, the French president dismissed the freshly appointed Cabinet as “not [his] government.”
Macron has in the past struggled to let go of his top-down management style, often sidelining his prime ministers and getting heavily involved in resolving crises on domestic issues. The new division of power has rattled the president, a government adviser said. “When you change habits, it upsets, it unsettles, it can give you vertigo,” the adviser said.
To navigate the new relationship with a more independent prime minister, Macron is left “looking for the instruction manual,” said an official belonging to Macron’s Renaissance party.
The first historic ally quoted above was harsher. “The president can’t act and knows that he won’t regain the upper hand for the next three years,” he said, referring to the presidential election in 2027.
During an official visit to Canada last week, the French president let some of his frustration appear after a heated exchange with pro-Palestinian protesters. “If only they knew how hard we fight to improve things … I cannot but feel a sense of injustice when I’m challenged like that,” he said to reporters. “In France, it is also the same situation.”
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