The immortal Macron, the mortal France. Political crisis over the Seine

"We didn't even get to buy lettuce" – 1 of the net users commented that the government of Sébastien Lecorn, whose composition was announced just fourteen hours earlier, had already fallen. This week in France began with the resignation of Prime Minister, appointed by Emmanuel Macron in early September – already the 3rd in the last year. helpless against the irrational actions of their president, who could be defined by the Talleyrandic saying “plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose” (“the more it changes, the more it becomes the same”), The French accepted the strategy of laughter through tears, comparing the short life of the last cabinet to this Liz Truss of 2022.

While in the British case the dismissal was straight linked to causing a local economical crisis through a proposal for a alleged mini-budget, the Seine is alternatively affected by the deficiency of any political stability. This in turn already translates into worse and worse Hexagon credit ratings: agencies are afraid about the advanced level of public debt compared to GDP, and investors are deterred by the deficiency of a long-term imagination of the country's economical development.

However, the most crucial question is which will most likely find the direction of France for the coming years: are politicians able to take seriously the society they claim to represent?

The question is, of course, not unique to France. However, the direction that will be taken by this country will have consequences for the full continent. Emmanuel Macron's second word – the main actor of the current political crisis, and to a large degree besides the upset economy – and his behaviour in the current context either to the remainder will erode public confidence, or he will be able to save his remains possibly at the last minute, preventing the revolution.

Let us remind you: in June 2024, after the disastrous elections to the European Parliament for the ruling coalition (most mandates were won by the Marine Le Pen National Assembly), Macron announced an earlier parliamentary election, based on alleged concern for a democratic mandate for the ruling country. This amazing decision proved to be just 1 of the first in the long chain, whose subsequent links lead us to this day.

After won by the left-wing coalition of the fresh Front Popular Elections, which Emmanuel Macron did not consider adequate to make a government, followed a series of trial and mistake policy making. The last year and a half have yet revealed the trait of the president of France, which is insufficiently frequently analysed outside the country: his belief in his own infallibility, which has been moving peculiarly towards unification since 2022.

In the 1960s German historian Ernst Kantorowicz published a book entitled Two bodies of the king. survey of Medieval Political TheologyIn which he made an crucial diagnosis. In premodern times, the ruler served as a dual function: he was at the same time himself, a mortal of blood and bone, and at the same time the incarnation of the state he governs. “The state is me,” Louis XIV said. specified an incarnation of power cannot be judged from a human perspective.

President Macron has been following a akin logic for over a year and a half. It builds a number of fragile coalitions between centre-right parties, which sometimes received little than 10% of the vote in the 2024 election. Nevertheless, the blame for the current situation of Macron and subsequent exprestors is mainly attributed to left-wing parties, calling them "irresponsible" towards the state and its situation.

This irresponsibility is to affect attempts to negociate by socialists and another left-wing parties ‘Zucman tax’, imposed on the country's top fortunes. France's current budget gap increased drastically during Macron's government term, then functioning under the name LREM (La République En Marche). In 2018, the National Assembly reduced corporate taxes from 33.5 percent to 25 percent, and replaced the alleged solidarity taxation on fortunes (l’impôt de solidarité sur la fortune, or the ISF), covering between 0.5 and 1.5% of the amount of the fortune, a taxation covering only properties valued at more than EUR 1.3 million. presently France is in the top 10 countries with the highest social inequality in the world, and 1% of the wealthiest have the same amount as more than 20% of the poorer citizens of the country.

The current political crisis in France is so not an average conflict between the "street" and the "Elysées Palace", constantly protesting early retirement supporters and adapting to modern politics. On the contrary, it is becoming increasingly apparent that this is simply a increasing gap between political representation and society. The past weeks and the strengthening of protests against the presently implemented policy have shown that the French are again ready to fight for their rights. president Macron's next week and decisions will find their direction and postulates.

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Olga Byrska – he completes his PhD in past about the failed revolutions in Europe from 1944 to 1948 at the European University Institute, works at the theatre (dramatura “Orlando”, dir. A. Błońska, Teatr Powszechny, 2022; “Mothers. Song for Wartime", dir.M. Górnicka, 2023), writes and translates. She teaches at Sciences Po, lives in Paris.