The Last President of Europe

April 1, 2020
Admiring account of upstart Emmanuel Macron's surprising presidential run and the hurdles he must overcome to transform the European Union in the face of American disdain. Drozdiak, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Washington Post senior editor and foreign correspondent, cleanly delineates the young, charismatic French leader's sweeping aims since his accession to the presidency in 2017: to keep Europe united and vigorous in the wake of right-wing national incursions and American indifference under Donald Trump. First, Macron had to surmount internal revolt to his economic and education reforms and tackle the antiquated labor laws in France, allaying the fears of the so-called Yellow Vest movement. That group rose up in street protests, arguing the Macron was out of touch with rank-and-file workers, who were suffering the effects of "the highest tax burden...of any developed nation." Macron, new to politics and more of an intellectual than a worker, was broadsided by the many interrelated issues involved in the rich-vs.-poor divide, yet his hasty, earnest implementation of grand national conversations mostly quelled the violence and stoked a valuable debate. "Macron's grand strategy for his presidency," writes the author, "was conceived with three goals in mind: to modernize France, to relaunch the drive toward a more unified continent, and to establish Europe as a major power in a multipolar world." In the wake of anti-immigrant and nationalist violence, Macron hopes that France, and Europe, can "inspire the world by serving as the contemporary incarnation of the Enlightenment and its ideals." Moreover, notes Drozdiak, Macron is actively serving (whether he likes it or not) as the "Donald whisperer" in defusing American hostility toward European demands and in blocking China's incursions into European real estate. An admirer of Charles de Gaulle, Macron has said, "Our role everywhere is to be a mediating power." A slim but pertinent on-the-ground narrative that can serve as a starting point for further study.

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