By Sarah Sankel
Correspondent
President Emmanuel Macron of France has recently been facing widespread public criticism in his country. The controversy escalated significantly when Macron selected a new prime minister on Sept. 9, according to The Economist.
In France, executive power is balanced between the president and the president-appointed prime minister, as stated in a Britannica entry. When the government in parliament collapses, public opinion is typically directed at the prime minister who has been dismissed, rather than the president, who will appoint the next prime minister. This time, however, things are different.
Just nine months ago, in Dec. 2024, France’s legislature passed a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who had only been in office for three months. The motion was passed because of Barnier’s unpopular budget, which planned to use 60 billion euros in savings to shrink France’s deficit, according to Reuters.
Prime Minister François Bayrou, who was appointed by Macron after Barnier, was defeated by a vote of no confidence this September due to his unpopular budget plans that aimed to shrink France’s deficit, according to The Economist.
Macron quickly appointed the liberal centrist Sébastien Lecornu as the next prime minister, who currently holds the office and hopes to find common ground among the various political parties in France.
“Humility,” he said, was the key approach to gaining support and unity. Lecornu also claimed that his government would be different from the others, according to the Guardian.
Although some public criticism was directed towards Macron in December, according to Reuters, France’s inability to keep a prime minister for long is an escalating public criticism directed towards Macron.
The “Block Everything” movement began to spread on social media in May. According to Reuters, although it largely consisted of right-wing groups in its infancy, recent discontent with Macron has expanded the movement to include the left and the far left.
On Sept. 9, the tension exploded. According to AP News, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau reported that nearly 200,000 people had protested on the streets by the evening. Other estimates drew the number closer to 250,000. Retailleau also reported that over 450 people had been arrested due to the protests and that over a dozen officers had been injured.
Although many of the protests were peaceful, such as those in central Paris, others were more violent. According to AP News, protests ranged from blocking Paris’s beltway during rush hour to hurling objects at police officers. These protests were not limited to Paris, either, but were extended across the country to other cities and towns.
According to Le Monde, a French news site, all of France’s unions have called for a strike on Sept. 18, which could continue to escalate the protests and public criticism and expand the movement across new professional sectors.
Many news sites, including Euro News, have compared the “Block Everything” movement with the “Yellow Vest” movement, which similarly fueled public criticism towards the French government and was primarily grown through social media among the working class. The “Yellow Vest” movement occurred in 2018.
Some protesters have already called for Macron’s resignation, according to Reuters, and many are unhappy with Lecornu’s political leanings. Criticism towards the new prime minister and Macron will likely continue to grow in the coming weeks.
