Summer started well with record tourist numbers and lovely weather. American English was back on Paris café terraces, visitors from everywhere admired Notre Dame and bought Amorino ice-cream. Terrorism took a back seat, at last, but the dangers were still visible in the impressive display of concrete blocks around the Louvre and the 30-million-euro project to build a glass wall around the Eiffel Tower.
But then a heat wave struck that made Paris feel like Tel Aviv or even Eilat! President Macron scrambled to face down an unusually united opposition: from extreme left to extreme right, everyone was excited to have a stick to beat him with – the misbehaviour of his young security chief, unduly light punishment and a slow, unconvincing presidential response. Macron finally took personal responsibility, but he lost the political benefit of France’s unexpected World Cup victory by a multicultural team happy to sing the national anthem. His constitutional reform also ran into trouble in a parliament reluctant to cut its own numbers by a third.
A year after his election, Macron’s substantive accomplishments are remarkable. Opposition remains splintered and lacks charismatic leaders. But the President no longer walks on water. His support has solidified on the right but weakened on the left. Labour market reforms have yet to dent the unemployment rate and economic growth slowed in the second quarter, weighed down by transport strikes, higher oil prices and renewed uncertainty.
The next round of reforms will be more difficult, especially the long-awaited initiative to define “Islam of France” in a country that has become multi-cultural by default, not by design. Macron must define a place for Islam that does not offend the country’s secular tradition. He must also do more for the “social” agenda without abandoning fiscal discipline.
Europe is another major challenge with elections looming in 2019. Macron alone seems to have a vision for Europe, but he lacks audacious partners and the people underestimate what Europe does for them. Sad to watch the British discover Europe’s value only now as they struggle to exit. With Trump, Putin, Erdogan and the Chinese, the Middle East still in turmoil and Africa in transition, the present offers an historic opportunity to invent a powerful new Europe with defined borders and the capacity to defend its citizens and its values.
The press continued its anti-Israel self-righteousness. Mediapart, an online outlet run by a former editor of Le Monde and dedicated to exposing political scandals, led the dance by gleefully denouncing Israel’s nation-state law as “exposing the true face of Israel” as an “apartheid regime” -- “nationalist, segregationist (and) racist…” Dispassionate analysis has been in short supply.
Reporting of Israel’s spectacular aerial activity in Syria was reported blandly, but the French, without blinking, still see Syria as their playground and Iran as primarily their business (literally). The mortal dangers for neighbouring Israel are scarcely an issue. The “pacific demonstrations” in Gaza attracted extensive coverage, with little regard for the suffering of the people and the environment of Southern Israel.
Israel’s role in rescuing the “white helmets” inside Syria, and busing them to Jordan, was highlighted on TV evening news and in the mainstream press, but the French foreign office communique played up French funding for the “white helmets” and ignored Israel’s involvement.
"Reuven Levi" has been a Paris resident since 1981. He married in the United States and is father of three and grandfather of six. He is an active member of the Jewish Community
