In contrast, Liz Truss is confusing. Macron has never had to campaign for anything other than his one presidential win, he doesn’t understand the base or party politics. He disliked the whole business as he saw it being run by his former mentor, President Francois Hollande. He feels it’s messy, sometimes unpredictable, and requires him to make deals with minor characters he’d rather just order around. (Once a tangerine, always a tangerine.) Even before answering Julia Hartley-Brewer’s pop quiz question about whether he was “friend or foe”, Macron had smacked of the populist when, as Secretary of State for International Trade, Truss predicted better global free trade opportunities for Brexit in Britain. rather than within his beloved EU. Not even the Thatcherite reports did him any good. Truss’s latest crowd-pleaser, much criticized in France, confirmed her as La Boris En Jupons (“Boris In Petticoats”). And yet, now may be the precise moment when Macron, the one with the BoJo-labeled “clown” and “hugger” epithets, will choose to act magnanimously. His first measured reaction (“The UK remains a friendly, strong and allied nation [to France], regardless of its leadership”) says he knows this as he faces a difficult autumn. Energy bills may not have risen as much in France as in the UK, but they are still stiff. The same goes for the weekly shop, school fees, mortgage rates and more. Just like the UK, France is facing labor shortages, waiting lists for doctor’s appointments and falling house prices. Le Président now understands that any would-be Yellow Yellow will blame him for the coming recession, not to mention a divided Parliament where he no longer has a majority. Passing any bill requires an ad hoc alliance with the Right or the Left. Before the new National Assembly adjourned for recess early this month, that meant they had to pass a hasty package that involved quite a bit of crab-like sawing. Temporary food and gas subsidies for the poorest were passed with the help of the Left. breaking up the TV license with the Right. The same applies to a 4% increase in basic pensions, as well as one-off payments to businesses to incentivize workers. Both sides agreed a €150 check to parents of school children. As this litany only prolongs the pain while adding to France’s debt, Macron faces a brisk four-and-a-half-year term. His response is to dramatize the international situation. Goodbye to the days of the “multipolar world” and useless telephone diplomacy with Putin. Macron has done the mother of all reverse ferrets about the need for a strong Western Alliance (now he wants one) and is finally naming the enemy. France’s new goals, finally clearly defined, are to take their place with the democracies working to curb the rise of totalitarianism. This means not only NATO, but also an expansion of such maritime alliances as the Biden-inspired Quad (US, Japan, India and Australia) to the UK and France, a country with deployment potential on five continents that has the second largest exclusive economic zone after the United States. However cynical some of his motives may be, Macron’s intentions are ultimately good. His recent statements on Ukraine are clear: “…we must unreservedly support Ukraine in the long term.” He is not the first French head of state to fall decisively to the right after early provocative statements: so did Charles de Gaulle during the Cuban missile crisis or François Mitterrand during the Falklands War. Prime Minister Liz Truss could do worse than close a Western rift that only benefits Putin’s Russia and accept Macron’s reluctantly outstretched hand. As an added benefit, this should isolate Germany within the EU, and what could be more Thatcherite than that?
