OPINION: Macron's TV 'comeback' was more like his obituary

Local France

15-05-2025

France's most popular TV channel postponed one of its most popular programmes on Tuesday night to give three hours of air-time to an unpopular President.
Viewers were supposed to watch Koh-Lanta, in which competitors seek to become the last survivor on a desert island. Instead they watched Emmanuel Macron struggle to escape the domestic, political isolation forced on him by a disastrous snap election 11 months ago.
That election was a failed gamble; so was
Tuesday's marathon TF1 interview
.
Listen to John and The Local France team discuss the Macron TV interview in the latest episode of the Talking France podcast. Download
here
or listen on the link below
Macron's mastery of foreign policy has slightly increased his popularity in recent weeks. He wanted to exploit the improved polls to show that he could weigh once again on French domestic affairs.
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He proved the opposite: that he is likely to be marooned on the desert island of the 'rest of the world' for the remaining two years of his presidency.
He remains influential in European and international affairs and spoke with authority about Ukraine, Gaza and Trumponomics on Tuesday night. On domestic subjects – the calamitous deficit, resurgent unemployment, immigration and living standards – Macron spoke eloquently as ever. But he struggled to defend his record and failed to suggest that his minority government could deliver anything new.
The Elysée had raised expectations that Macron would announce a multi-question referendum in the Autumn. He failed to go beyond what he had already promised in January. He said there would be 'several referenda simultaneously in the months ahead' but he declined to be 'too precise' on the subjects or the date.
Could the French people be asked to decide on the assisted dying law which is struggling through the National Assembly? Maybe but that would demand a stand-alone referendum.
Could they vote on restricting children's access to social media? Possibly but that issue has to be legislated at European level.
What about a referendum on the budget deficit, as suggested by his Prime Minister, François Bayrou? Macron did not rule that out but said that it was constitutionally difficult.
Instead of 'seizing the domestic agenda' or 'reaffirming the primacy of the Presidency', Macron opened a box with nothing inside it.
His marathon attracted a large audience – 29.7 percent of the total at its peak, more even than Koh-Lanta. It was an opportunity lost. Maybe, it was just a foolish idea in the first place.
Macron was downbeat throughout; the old energy and optimism was gone. And yet it was, in many ways, an extraordinary performance.
How many leaders of other countries could speak for more than three hours on live TV on subjects ranging from the nuclear deterrent to prison capacity? How many would agree to be grilled in prime time by political opponents rather than answer soft questions from friendly presenters?
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Macron dismantled the simplistic arguments of the leader of the CGT trades union federation, Sophie Binet, whose only solutions seemed to be nationalising industries and increasing taxes.
He accepted some of the criticism on security and immigration from the eccentric, self-pleased, hard-right mayor of Béziers, Robert Menard. But he also faced down Menard's misleading figure of '500,000' immigrants a year – which includes students and business postings.
He struggled to defend his deficit record against the ultra-liberal economist Agnès Verdier-Molinié. She rightly said that his governments were guilty of cutting taxes but failing to contain spending. He rightly dismissed her crude proposal to freeze all state spending when investment is desperately needed in health, education and defence.
The problem is that France has had eight years of Macronsplaining of this kind. His record is not as terrible as his opponents suggest but he has delivered stuttering progress, not the 'revolution' he promised in 2017.
His eight years have been disrupted by two great, global crises – Covid and the Ukraine war – and two smaller ones - the Gilets Jaunes revolt and the post-Ukraine war inflation boom. But he has failed to construct a consistent and convincing narrative for the modest progress made on unemployment, re-industrialisation, increased health spending and rearmament.
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Macron complained at the start of the interview that France was 'known for its pessimism…We always concentrate on what goes wrong and ignore what goes right.' That is true enough but it is an awkward argument for a politician to make.
The next two years threaten to be brutal – for France and for Macron. With no majority in the Assembly and no political consensus on how to reduce the crippling deficit, the most likely sequence of events is a cascade of fallen governments and maybe new parliamentary elections in the autumn
If the past is a guide, Macron will only become popular again when he leaves office. His mastery of foreign affairs and his far-sightedness on the need for 'European autonomy' from both China and the United States will eventually be recognised.
For three quarters of the French electorate, he is already yesterday's man. It is Macron's tragedy to be so young and so talented but, on domestic policy, already powerless.
Two years is a long time to be a lame duck. Wednesday night's marathon was not so much a new beginning as a premature, political obituary.