ICaptivable, Emmanuel Macron. On the one hand, the President of the Republic compensates for the rise in prices by an “inflation allowance” in favor of low incomes and the middle class and he increases the net minimum wage more sharply than his socialist predecessor François Hollande; on the other, it lowers taxes on capital and therefore on wealth. On the one hand, he renounces the airport of Notre-Dame-des-Landes; on the other hand, it is dragging its feet on the development of renewable energies. He wants to bring out a “French Islam”, which does not prevent him from promoting Arabic lessons at school.
Opportunist according to some, “neither right nor left” for others: does Emmanuel Macron not remind you of the German Chancellor? Angela Merkel is also unclassifiable – her twists are worthy of a slalom champion.
To consolidate purchasing power, the Merkel government will introduce a minimum wage that Germany did not know. But with the same impetus, the Chancellor will lower taxes on capital. Merkel is making great strides on gender equality by establishing an eighteen-month parental leave to be split between the two parents, but she votes against marriage for all. It will be resolutely against before being resolutely in favor of abandoning nuclear power. It will welcome nearly a million Syrians in 2015… and will negotiate a cynical “deal” with the Turkish president, who now prevents refugees from reaching Europe.
If Macron and Merkel practice a centrist policy always ready to be adjusted, the French president is fundamentally distinguished from the chancellor by his “marketing”, by the way of selling his policy.
Historically, Merkel has only spoken when necessary. And, when she saw herself having to explain her decisions, she avoided the debate of ideas; she just mentioned that it was “The most sensible decision” or “The result of a good compromise” even that there was “No real alternative”.
Major declarations
On Macron’s side, the big statements prevail. To justify the abolition of the solidarity tax on wealth, the Head of State declines the theory of “first of the ropes”. When he introduces strict containment at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the president celebrates the primacy of human life over the economy. It tends to ideologize the most mundane decisions.
This approach poses a threefold problem.
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