Five years ago, then 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron became president of France after a vigorous campaign in which his supporters knocked on doors across the country asking voters what they wanted. His book published about the campaign was simply called "Revolution". Now, as he seeks a second term in the presidential election, the first round of which takes place on April 10, his colleagues worry that he is spending too much time on the war in Ukraine and not engaging enough with French voters. They warn that he will have to put more weight on the campaign if he wants to secure the victory predicted by the polls.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin sounded the alarm a few days ago, the Monde newspaper reported, warning the president's camp against complacency and urging Macron to meet working-class voters who are likely to back far-right candidate Marine Le Pen instead of flirting with the center. "She is dangerous for the president and she can win this election," he said in a television interview."
Macron's advantage
Macron has the advantage of power[/B], excels in international politics and was seen as an effective leader during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But there are growing voices of protest that he is more concerned with foreign affairs and belongs to the political elite in Paris.
The French president appears to be taking the criticism seriously. On Monday he rushed to meet voters on the streets of Dijon in Burgundy. Listening to their complaints about the rising cost of living, he reverted to the winning formula of his 2017 campaign as a candidate: "Neither right nor left." "When you walk, you need two feet, right and left, and you have to step on one first and then the other," he said, defending his record of economic reform, reducing unemployment and supporting the economy during the pandemic.
"We've made some reforms that people on the right never wanted or couldn't or didn't know how to do. And they allowed us to fund social policies that people on the left had never done." Aware that he would need left-wing voters in any second round against the far-right Le Pen, he made sure he was accompanied by two former Socialists, François Rebchamen, mayor of Dijon, and François Patriat, who leads the pro-Macron group in the Senate.
The polls
The latest polls give Le Pen, Macron's main rival, about 19% for the first round of the April 10 election, well below Macron's 28%. However, in the second round, Macron is projected to have a lead of only 56%-44%.
Parts of Macron's program - which includes raising the retirement age from 62 to 65 - are not popular with Socialists and unions and he could lose valuable support "by destabilizing voters from the left," political analyst Chloe Morin believes. Macron is also vulnerable to popular discontent over rising fuel prices as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Amid all this, it became known yesterday that after just seven months in the job, the head of French military intelligence, General Eric Vidot, resigned because he was held responsible for wrong assessments and analyses about Russia's intentions regarding Ukraine. Reports speak of 'inadequate briefings' and 'lack of knowledge of the issues', as his service wrongly ruled out the possibility of an invasion because it would have 'monstrous costs' and it was believed that the Russians had other options 'to overthrow President Zelensky'.
Source: in.gr
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