Opinion: France Must Eject Macron

The second round of France’s 2022 presidential election is scheduled to take place this Sunday, April 24th, pitting incumbent Emmanuel Macron against challenger Marine Le Pen. The two obtained the highest vote totals in the first round, held on April 10th. They emerged as winners from a crowded pool of candidates that also included the left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon, right-wing Éric Zemmour, center-right Valérie Pécresse, and green Yannick Jadot.

Arguably, most of these candidates would do a far better job than Macron. Because of his failures in foreign policy, domestic security, and economic matters, the French people should vote Macron out of office on election day. For all his efforts at a “Jupiterian” style of governing that would renew France, President Macron’s tenure has seen an intensification of virtually every problem plaguing the republic. 

For example, France’s relationships with its former colonies in West Africa have deteriorated considerably under Macron’s administration. Macron oversaw much of Operation Barkhane, a French military operation to counter Islamist insurgents in the G5 Sahel countries of Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. All these states, also former French colonies, have somewhat willingly hosted French troops—until now. Mali’s military government recently demanded that France withdraw its forces amid the former’s turn to Russian security contractor Wagner Group for security matters. Moreover, Sahel violence has intensified rather than subsided since the beginning of President Macron’s tenure. No matter what metric is used, Macron’s Africa policy has failed. 

Nor is the French leader’s approach to domestic security any better. The president made overtures to French citizens concerned about radicalization with a bill vowing to fight “Islamist separatism.” However, this is insufficient to deal with extremism in France. The beheading of Samuel Paty, shooting of Charlie Hebdo journalists, and stabbing of Nice churchgoers are just three examples of this trend. Though these attacks were committed by Chechen, Nigerian, and Tunisian assailants, Macron refused to improve border security or address mass migration—two issues which enabled heavy criticism by former opponents such as Pécresse and Zemmour.

Le Pen has also attacked the president’s economic agenda, and rightfully so. Macron wants to raise France’s retirement age, an unpopular move that would hurt workers in a country that already suffers from stress and workplace burnout. The Gilet Jaunes, or Yellow Vests, protested heavily after the president wanted to raise gas taxes in 2018. More recently, Macron’s heavy sanctions on Russian energy have driven another hike in fuel prices. His urge to punish the Russian government may come from the right place, but its ultimate victims will be French drivers, farmers, and others who need gasoline in their daily lives. 

While Macron’s opponent is far from perfect, many criticisms of Le Pen hold little weight. For instance, she has been criticized for her position against the hijab, a veil employed by many of France’s Muslim women. Though Le Pen’s perspective of the hijab as a tool of political Islamists has been criticized as “Islamophobic,” it is far closer to historical truth than the alternative. In fact, veils are far from integral to Islamic tradition. Many women in Muslim-majority states like Egypt and Turkey avoided hijabs for much of the 20th century, where they were perceived as old-fashioned and patriarchal. It was only following the rise of Wahhabi preachers and groups like the Muslim Brotherhood that the hijab began to regain prominence in the 1970s. These modern political Islamists aimed to de-Westernize a Muslim world they saw as increasingly decadent and secular, so they embarked on mass campaigns to encourage—and sometimes coerce—women to wear veils. Though many hijab-wearing faithful may have abandoned these political views, the connection Le Pen identified is historically accurate. 

Another area where Le Pen has been criticized is perceived Russophilia. She even had to retract a campaign leaflet featuring a photo of her shaking hands with Vladimir Putin. However, Le Pen has clarified her stance following recent events, condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine soon after it occurred. It is entirely possible to appreciate a leader’s conservative domestic agenda while condemning their aggressive maneuvers abroad, which aligns with Le Pen’s approach. Her true foreign policy is a souveranisme that insists on French neutrality in conflicts between the NATO allies and Russia. This neutrality has deep historical precedent in France, where it was pioneered by legendary statesman Charles de Gaulle. For instance, de Gaulle removed France from NATO’s integrated military command, a policy that Le Pen also hopes to implement. 

In short, allegations of Marine Le Pen as an Islamophobe or Russophile fall apart after closer scrutiny, though they may appear convincing at first glance. Consequently, she deserves a chance to succeed where Macron has not. The incumbent president has failed by reducing workers’ protections, ignoring French public safety, and adding to skyrocketing costs of living. French voters who wish to turn their country around should oust Emmanuel Macron on April 24th.