Andy Smith - Can Macron Fill a Merkel-Shaped Hole in Europe?

Deep Dive with Shawn C. Fettig

Emmanuel Macron was only 39 and a relative neophyte when he was elected to the French presidency in 2017. In his first term in office, his policy agenda was so ambitious that it generated mass protest – known as the Yellow Vest movement - that paralyzed the country. It got so bad that many wondered not only if his agenda would be imperiled, but if he would even survive re-election. It’s against these odds that Macron did manage to transform much of France’s civil and fiscal policy – including its labor, taxation, and pension laws. And, he did, in fact, win re-election in April of 2022 – in a rematch against his 2017 opponent – the right-wing leader of the National Front, Marine Le Pen.

Macron, more than any other European leader, has positioned himself as the director of Europe’s response to Russian aggression. While he has maintained contact with Vladimir Putin through the Ukrainian invasion and its subsequent atrocities, much to the chagrin of many of his European counterparts, he has also worked hard to shore up solidarity on the continent, ensuring wave after wave of European sanctions continue to land on Russia.
Today, I’m discussing all of this with my guest - Dr. Andy Smith – professor of Political Science at Sciences Po Bordeaux and Director of Research at Centre Emile Durkheim in Bordeaux, France. He is an expert on France, and a specialist of European integration and political economy. He has published extensively on these subjects in numerous academic journals and texts. We talk about how French politics has developed since WWII, how France and its politics are evolving to meet the challenges that the European continent is currently facing, how Macron might be reshaping France and situating himself to be a leader in Europe, and what the future might hold for France, and Europe, in former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s absence and in the face of Russian aggression.

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