2021-03-25 14:26:13
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Emmanuel Macron.
French president’s advisers portray their leader as a superhero bravely battling the coronavirus. Sometimes.
PARIS – Listen to Emmanuel Macron’s entourage talk about the French president’s handling of the coronavirus, and you might come away thinking he’s Superman. Or Clark Kent. Or both.
There’s the Macron who, according to his advisers, boldly brushed off the predictions of French epidemiologists and decided based on his own reading of scientific studies to brave the third wave without imposing harsh lockdowns.
Then there’s the Macron who, like the average, powerless spectator, is frustrated with the sluggish vaccination rollout and routinely gets angry with subordinates for not pushing through his policies fast enough.
With the next presidential election just over a year away, Macron’s aides and advisers have been playing off both music sheets, trying to convince French voters that their president is the most capable option for shepherding them through the crisis — but is simultaneously not to blame for any of the failings taking place along the way.
It’s a delicate trick to pull off — one not made easier by Macron’s penchant for centralized decision-making and his habit of putting himself at the center of the narrative.
Each new phase of the pandemic has featured a now-familiar national soap opera. For days, the entire country, including lawmakers, is on tenterhooks waiting for Macron to make up his mind about tightening or loosening up restrictions, usually at the very last minute.
Other countries in Europe have struggled just as much with the unpredictable ebb and flow of the pandemic, but few other leaders have been so deliberately cast in such a pivotal role. That’s in part because of the enormous power of the president under the French constitution, but it’s also a consequence of Macron’s governing style and how crucial his handling of the crisis will be in his bid for reelection next year.
“He has increasingly made the choice of personally overseeing certain issues related to the pandemic,” said a government minister, on the condition of anonymity to speak more freely.
“He goes over the daily vaccine deliveries, looks at all the charts,” the minister added. “He knows the pandemic will be a major issue in the upcoming presidential campaign.”
Superhero
Super-Macron was on full display at the end of January.
In the morning, the French president sat down with a small group of foreign correspondents at the Elysée Palace around a large conference table to allow for proper social distancing. One of the questions was about the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca.
Though he acknowledged that he didn’t have enough data and was waiting for health agency advice, he confidently declared that the jab seemed “quasi-ineffective” on seniors. He repeated the claim more than once. (That afternoon, he was contradicted by the European Medicines Agency which recommended the vaccine for use across all age groups.)
@Politico24th
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