One of Emmanuel Macron's strengths is his fearlessness in exposing European life lies. It has triggered overdue debates on economic and military dependencies and contributed to a rethink in the EU. But the French president is currently destroying his claim to leadership in Europe.
His addiction to distancing himself from the United States stands in strange contrast to his propensity to engage with authoritarian rulers. The example of Vladimir Putin already showed how he indulged in the illusion that he could negotiate with a dictator on an equal footing. Macron also rejected warnings that Xi Jinping was promoting the concept of "strategic autonomy" to divide Europe and undermine transatlantic cohesion.
Macron gambles away credibility
It is difficult not to see a pattern behind Macron's recent departure. Whether brain-dead NATO, fruitful confrontation with Germany or security guarantees for (the aggressor) Russia: Macron repeatedly attracts attention with provocative statements. In this way, he carelessly gambles away a statesman's most expensive asset, credibility. Macron is thus thwarting his self-declared goal of greater European sovereignty. He missed the chance for a self-correction in his speech on Europe in The Hague. His diplomats always have the thankless task of subsequently limiting the damage.
The Chinese president had an easy time with his guest from France. Macron allowed himself to be courted by the Chinese side. He did not take the opportunity to make a clear commitment to Taiwan's status quo in the joint press statement with Xi and avoided publicly expressing agreement with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's China speech.
Macron's remarks also testify to a disturbing willingness to adopt Chinese ways of thinking. With regard to Taiwan, he stressed that "the Chinese are concerned about their unity". The warning against a logic of blocs was also borrowed from Chinese thinking.
More than ever, the domestically struggling president is taking refuge in Gaullist illusions. This applies in particular to the problematic statement that Europe must not allow itself to be drawn into crises "that are not ours" in relation to Taiwan. In fact, the formulation is taken almost word for word from Charles de Gaulle. In 1966, the general justified the planned withdrawal from NATO's integrated military structures by saying that he did not want "France to be drawn into conflicts that do not directly affect it."
Gaullist illusions
But Macron fails to recognize that de Gaulle carefully considered the timing before taking this step. During the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crisis, he did not telephone Nikita Khrushchev, but clearly sided with America. In a press conference in 1961, he accused Moscow of aggressive imperialism, to which the West had to react not with restraint, but with strength.
During his state visit to China, Macron gave the impression that he could ignore the extent to which the intensified system competition with autocratic regimes puts Western democracies under pressure. This also creates a dangerous domestic message. Macron owed his re-election to the will of a majority of French voters not to entrust the fate of the country to Marine Le Pen. By downplaying the difference between Taiwan's democratic system and the autocratic leadership in Beijing, he is breaking down inhibitions. One expects a President Le Pen to cuddle with dictators, but Macron not.
Even before the end of his first year in office, there is a whiff of Fin de Règne over the government. Even in the pension conflict, Macron's solitary leadership method has proven to be outdated. It would be unfair to blame the president alone for the fact that fragmented French society is less and less able to agree on a common vision for the future. But Macron's vertical understanding of politics has exacerbated the democratic crisis rather than alleviated it. By contempt for the trade unions, he has manoeuvred himself into a dead end.
Perhaps the Constitutional Council will succeed this Friday in finding a face-saving way out. The next four years in office threaten to become a political stalemate if Macron does not radically change his method. He should dare less Gaullism and more parliamentarism.