“After the riots, Emmanuel Macron is summoned to find a convincing answer to the question of republican authority”

2023-07-11 06:00:30

Five days of urban riots of rare intensity swept away the hundred days that Emmanuel Macron had given himself to bounce back from the long conflict triggered by the pension reform. Elisabeth Borne can well argue, in The Parisian of Sunday July 9, which she “delivered” on all the subjects that were part of its roadmap: work, education, health, economic planning, sovereign issues, the way in which the government is led to evolve depends on the analysis of the earthquake that has just occur and the response that the President of the Republic intends to provide.

The first polls show both the state of stupefaction of public opinion, the strong demand for authority that emanates from the country and the little credit available to elected politicians on all sides to try to circumscribe a multifaceted crisis that goes back far away. Even if he managed to restore calm in five days, where it took nineteen for Jacques Chirac to control the riots of 2005, Emmanuel Macron is severely judged. Only 28% of French people say they are satisfied with his reactions, according to an FIFG study for Sud Radio on July 7. The proportion is just 30% in an OpinionWay survey pour The Parisian. The impression dominates that the executive was overwhelmed by this new upsurge of violence, while it had carefully marked out the post-retirement political sequence to give the feeling of mastering the agenda.

Emmanuel Macron’s opponents have nothing to celebrate. According to this same survey, no political formation is credited by the French with having had the right reaction or with having issued proposals likely to avoid other crises or with having shown a spirit of responsibility. It is indeed a global disqualification of the political field that is highlighted in the face of this new serious tear in the national fabric.

Collective discouragement

According to the first indications of the government, from 7,000 to 8,000 violent people were in the street during these days of riots, that is to say a tiny minority in comparison with the 6 million inhabitants of the popular districts. In The Parisianthe Prime Minister notes “that a third of the municipalities which have experienced violence do not have “political city” districts” and “half of the neighborhoods that are the subject of major urban renewal operations have not experienced violence”. Before any hasty conclusion, it is imperative to take the time for analysis and diagnosis.

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