Political advisor Alain Minc once sang the praises of his former protégé Emmanuel Macron, even comparing him to Napoleon’s generals, especially gifted with luck and talent, but those days are over, reports Politico.
Now, Macron’s former mentor and influential political advisor Minc has declared that the current president is the worst the French Fifth Republic has had since its creation in 1958. The president’s narcissism has led him to make rash decisions and allowed far-right forces to shine in the sunshine ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for 2027. The adviser told Politico that Macron is leaving the country in a much worse state than when he took power: “He will leave a political landscape that is perhaps permanently unstable in France. It’s unforgivable.”
Minc, an influential businessman, has been an advisor to several French presidents since the 1980s and was one of Macron’s early supporters. The Elysee Palace has refused to confirm Minc’s claim that he advised Macron before his victory in the 2017 election. The two men’s relationship cooled after Macron took what Mink said were a series of missteps and assembled an “incredibly mediocre” team around him. The two have stopped speaking since Macron called snap elections last year.
Minc’s criticism is more personal than the criticism made in October by Macron’s two former prime ministers. The council believes that Macron, after his re-election in 2022, is making one mistake after another due to narcissistic traits – he thinks he is smart and clever enough to solve problems on his own.
Minc said Macron is unable to accept reality.
Others who know the French president personally have compared him to a gambler who is always convinced that he only needs one more win to get all the bets – no matter how many times he has already lost. According to Minc, Macron is unable to admit that he is the problem, and in order to solve the political mess at home, he should leave French politics and look towards international diplomacy.
In fact, since losing his majority in parliament, Macron has focused more on foreign affairs. But his reluctance to relinquish control of domestic policy was clearly evident in October, when he reappointed Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister just days after he resigned.
French voters are as dissatisfied with Macron as Minc. A poll conducted in late October suggested that Macron could become the most unpopular president ever. And that’s not all. Minc believes that the only party with a realistic chance of winning the 2027 presidential election is the far-right led by Marine Le Pen, a frightening prospect and a disgrace to Macron.
Minc is concerned that the French people lack a sense of what it means to move from a liberal democracy to a less liberal one. He pointed out that the return of Donald Trump to office in the US and the efforts of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to restore the rule of law in the country clearly demonstrate how dangerous it is to flirt with a lack of liberalism.
Read also: Macron appoints Lecornu as Prime Minister again; what’s going on in French politics?