Emmanuel Macron was aiming for no less than the transformation of French society. His determination to reconcile alienated voters with a liberal project of radical social and economic reforms made his presidency one of the most ambitious political projects in Europe. How does Macron’s record look three years after his election and halfway through a global pandemic? Our Europe editor Nick Alipour explains why keeping his campaign promises has made things more difficult for the French president.

You could almost hear Europe breathing out in relief on 7 May 2017. Not another Brexit fiasco, not another Trump moment – no, Emmanuel Macron, the dynamic liberal intellectual beat the spectre of the far right, Marine Le Pen, by a full 32.2% in the run-off round of the French Presidential elections.

However, there were no illusions that most people had not voted for Macron but against Le Pen, whose hard right politics and nationalist views made her a political outcast at the last election. The French president was merely on probation. With the country stuck in a difficult economic situation, the liberals had to get it right this time – or increase the risk that those voters who felt increasingly left behind would lose their inhibitions at the next election. 

Macron’s campaign had made it clear that he would accept this challenge. The old name of his movement, En Marche!, French for on the move, perhaps best describes his attitude. Macron was on the move with a detailed plan to transform France into an economically successful and socially just nation, entrenched in a reformed European Union. On election night, he promised to do “everything possible” so that far-right voters would have “no reason to vote for the extremes anymore”. Taken together: Macron was hoping that the success of his model would reconcile the French with liberal values.

Three years later, the results of his ambitious project are becoming apparent. When Macron took over, France’s economy was seen as paralysed by complicated labour laws and overblown government spending. Purely regarding the domestic context, Macron has indeed got France moving again. With a parliamentary majority behind him, he railroaded bill after bill to restructure the national railway company SNCF; broaden access to unemployment insurance; loosen labour market regulations and cut corporation taxes. Finally, he started reforming the pension system, only to be interrupted by Covid-19. 

Yet, as the pandemic rages on, the French public seem less than ever convinced by Macron’s programme of liberal reforms. With a mere 38% in recent approval ratings and his party just emerging from shattering defeats in the nationwide municipal elections, Macron seems far from reconciling those left behind with his liberal ideas. 

One doesn’t need to look far for the reasons. “In our country, we like leadership and we want to kill the leaders,” Macron summarised the difficult relationship of the French with imposed reforms. On one hand, changes to the country’s economic and social structures have been demanded for years. On the other hand, especially the labour unions have historically resisted any plans to liberalise hard-won worker’s rights and social benefits.

Correspondingly, Macron’s En Marche attitude hasn’t gone down well with French voters, particularly on the left. His incessant tabling of new reforms has triggered unprecedented public outrage, from rail strikes over the Gilets Jaunes movement to the week-long industrial action against the pension reform. And Macron rarely bowed down. He seemed to be pursuing a rigid masterplan which had already been finalised and believed he had considered all relevant interests upfront. The image perpetuated by his opponents such as labour-union leader Philippe Martinez stuck: “The government is obstinately refusing to listen to the opinions of the majority of French.”  

Macron’s unpopularity is surprising because of his awareness of the minefield of French politics and his strategy to satisfy all its players. As the BBC observed: “in the campaign, it became a joke among journalists how often his answers included the words “en même temps” (at the same time). It was his way of marrying everything and its opposite, of reconciling every contradiction.” The En Marche! Movement was supposed to break the traditional French dichotomy between the Socialists and the Gaullist right: “neither right nor left”, reconciling “freedom and protection”. Right-wing campaign promises such as the liberalisation of employment regulations, fiscal consolidation and the restructuring of the benefit system were counterbalanced with left-wing ideas: Macron vowed to boost social security and buying power while maintaining core labour-union achievements such as the 35-hour week.

Communication failures may thus explain Macron’s reputation; his unilateral En Marche attitude has perhaps overshadowed the more dialogical en même temps. The right-wing leaning of his economic policies, the debate on police violence against protesters and his at times condescending tone have fuelled the caricature of an autocratic president of the rich. Most infamously, he once lectured an unemployed man: “If you are ready and motivated… I can find you a job just by crossing the road.” Macron has thus manoeuvred himself into the odd situation in which his big promises and his determination to keep them have impeded, not helped him.

If that weren’t enough, Macron seems cursed by adverse circumstances, the peak of which was this year’s Covid-19 outbreak that has hit France badly. The beginning economic success that Macron was counting on to redeem the unpopularity of his reforms, has been shattered by lockdown measures. Unemployment had previously been reduced from around 10% in 2017 to an eleven-year quarterly low of 8.1%; 7% were the campaign promise. Now it is expected to shoot up to 11% again. Moreover, Macron’s fiscal targets will definitely be missed given the costly measures to relaunch the economy and to fix the problems of the health care system, highlighted by the recent crisis.

Thus, Macron’s initial plan appears misplaced after Corona. “We have to reinvent ourselves. Me before everyone else”, he admitted in his post-coronavirus address last month. But his first steps into the self-proclaimed new period still signalled continuity with his pre-existing plans rather than change. Soon after his promise of renewal, he announced: “The pension reform won’t be abandoned.” 

Macron cannot help but keep pushing his project forward. Yet, now more than ever, France remains an inhospitable environment for his ambitions.