‘We are Nicolas': inside France's middle-class revolt worrying Macron

Times

2 days ago

Nicolas, a thirtysomething professional, sits in his tiny Paris flat with his head in his hands. Despite a degree and a job with a big brand company, he and his wife Julie are barely managing after the state takes its huge cut from their pay.
More than 500,000 people have tweeted sympathy with the young manager since his plight went public. Ministers and MPs have offered support and he is worrying President Macron's staff. All of which is remarkable given that Nicolas does not exist.
He is the fictional embodiment, a ­viral meme, of the frustration of a generation of white urban middle-class millennials who feel they are being milked to pay for the French benefits system and for boomers living it up on state pensions. His name is one that peaked in popularity with middle-class parents in 1980.
The slogan 'C'est Nicolas qui paie' (Nicolas foots the bill), which emerged in 2020, has taken off this year, channelling anger in a section of the electorate that was the heart of initial support for Macron's centrist En Marche party, now called Renaissance.
Targets for Nicolas's ire include Bernard and Chantal, generational names for 70-year-olds who are depicted sailing the oceans on cruises, thanks to pensions that this year gave retired recipients higher incomes than average full-time workers.
Also in his sights is ­Karim, the Muslim-African immigrant whose life is supposedly financed by ­Nicolas.
Tax rises promised by François Bayrou, prime minister of France's minority government, have boosted the Nicolas phenomenon, drawing in conservative politicians. Bruno Retailleau, leader of the centre-right Republicans and the interior minister, warned that if Bayrou fails to change the budget: 'It's Nicolas who'll pay'.
Jonas Haddad, 37, the vice-president of the Normandy region and spokesman for the Republicans, praised what he called 'the rallying call for a generation that is being fleeced'.
He said: 'I'm hearing a lot of young French people wondering if it is worth staying in France.'
Aides of Macron, who opposes Bayrou's planned tax rises, say they are keeping a close eye on the movement. The Élysée Palace agrees with the claim that the middle class is being taxed too much, a staff member said. The government is more worried about a brewing revolt, also born on social media, of a potentially more violent type. Under the slogan 'Bloquons tout' (Let's block everything), a movement echoing the 2018 gilets jaunes (yellow vests) uprising is calling for the country to be brought to its knees on September 10. Drawing from the radical left and hard right, it is calling for civil disobedience and mass protest. It is being ­closely watched by the police intelligence service.
The Nicolas trend has been propelled by an X account, NicolasQuiPaie, which has relayed humorous memes around the long-suffering millennial. The anonymous creator of the ­account, which has more than 70,000 followers, has insisted that he is not political. However, he has voiced admiration for Javier Milei, the libertarian ­Argentine president. He has distanced ­Nicolas from the gilets jaunes.
He told Le Figaro: 'We must make the country understand that the ­country cannot stay afloat without the people who are at work. The political leaders have to have the courage to teach the other social classes that they need us.'
Nicolas is being depicted on the left as a vehicle for populist and hard-right politics. Gaspard Gantzer, a former advisor to François Hollande, the former Socialist president, said: 'This Nicolas character, who comes over so simple and typical, is in reality a Trojan horse. He is circulating ­reactionary identity politics, which claim that only productive people have the right to have an opinion.'
Analysts see the Nicolas phenomenon and the angrier 'block everything' movement as a symptom of the breakdown of the political system, witnessed by the collapse of the old ­established parties and the emergence of two big blocs on the hard left and populist right that ­jointly enjoy support from well over half the public.
Jérôme Fourquet, director of opinion for Ifop polling, said: 'Each in its way translates the deep anger which is burning in whole swathes of society.'
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Nicolas comes mainly from right-wing frustration over taxes and excessive benefits, while the 'block everything' is a replay of the yellow vests, he told Le Point magazine. 'They are two slogans that have no party or trade union but which are fed by the same ­exasperation.' The Nicolas phrase is a new take on an old expression, recently used by ­Macron: 'C'est bibi qui paie'. ­Bibi refers to oneself so it means: 'I'm the one who pays'.