This Thursday, March 3, 2022, Emmanuel Macron formalized his candidacy for the presidential election in his “letter to the French”. If he had the almost unanimous favors of the foreign media during his previous campaign, this president “Jupiterian” has seen its image evolve significantly, according to the crises experienced by the country during its five-year term.
The master of the clocks will have made the wait last until the end. This Thursday, March 3, on the eve of the deadline, Emmanuel Macron announced his candidacy for the presidential election of April 10 and 24, by publishing a “letter to the French”. The one who had given a sigh of relief to the majority of the international press by winning 66% of the vote against Marine Le Pen, in 2017, is therefore a candidate for re-election.
The outgoing president leaves behind him a five-year term marked by major crises, including the massive mobilization against pension reform, the movement of “yellow vests”, the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, the war led by Russia. of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. The latter, which has required the full attention of the international community since February 24, will probably have delayed the agenda of her campaign.
A noticeable right turn
When the then 39-year-old candidate Macron burst onto the political scene in 2017, the foreign press saw him as a “antidote to the populist wave”, as written by Financial Times. At the time, François Hollande’s former economy minister was seen as a symbol of hope in the French political landscape, synonymous with renewal. But the foreign press, which dreamed of him as a “savior of Europe” when he came to power, has not always been kind to the Head of State: especially after the turn to the right he made in 2020.
After the crisis of “yellow vests” and the murder of Samuel Paty, his speeches on separatism challenge the foreign press, as does the Global Security Law. With the latter, the american monthly The Atlantic wrotein November 2020, that Emmanuel Macron risked “transform France into a police state”.
Criticized but not hated
Emmanuel Macron, however, remains appreciated abroad. Many observers still see him as the new leader of post-Merkel Europe. When France took the helm of the Council of the European Union in January 2022, the press however wondered: was it the presidency too much? For the German newspaper Handelsblatt, however, it is indeed France that leads the dance in Europe.
In February, the international press praised his central role in negotiations to try to prevent a war between Ukraine and Russia. But the Russian invasion launched by Vladimir Putin, who signed the failure of diplomacy, contributed to delaying the agenda of his campaign, according to certain foreign newspapers. Enough to allow far-right candidates to occupy the media field, as noted by The Guardian.