Yellow jackets win a white flag
French street protests have forced a presidential U-turn. Matthew Partridge reports.
French street protests have forced a presidential U-turn. Matthew Partridge reports.
The protest movement known as the gilets jaunes (yellow jackets) "that has disrupted French life and sparked the worst rioting for decades in the heart of Paris" has forced President Emmanuel Macron to halt plans to raise petrol and diesel prices, says Charles Bremner in The Times. The government will also suspend imminent rises in domestic electricity and gas prices and cut the cost of MOT tests for vehicles. These moves "represent Macron's first policy surrender, 18 months after he won office saying that he would never yield to street protesters as all his recent predecessors had done".
Macron's concession might not be enough, as these were no ordinary protests, says John Lichfield in The Guardian. The centre of Paris had not seen violence on this scale since the student and worker rebellion of May 1968. Despite claims the protests had been hijacked by extremists, the "great majority" of protestors seemed to be "men and some women in their 30s and 40s from suffering rural towns in northern or western France". These people represented those suffering "genuine economic and social distress in a peripheral and middle France" who say that they are "despised and fiscally exploited by the country's thriving cities".
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Is Macron finished?
The protests follow missteps "that have left Macron's popularity ratings lower after 18 months in office than any recent predecessors", says the Financial Times. While pro-business measures, such as a flat tax on dividends, "made sense as a way of encouraging investment", they "fuelled perceptions that the president is out of touch".
If Macron wants to break the cycle "where often vital reforms are derailed by industrial action or street protests", he needs to "rethink his communication strategy, his tone and language, to convince the broader electorate he is not merely a president for the rich". If he doesn't, "his whole project will be in danger".
Don't hold your breath, says Jonathan Miller in The Spectator. It's hard to see how the "tone deaf" Macron can recover from this, since he "has not a trace of humility in his personality". His detachment from the popular mood "is in a class with Marie Antoinette". While such presidential aloofness "may have worked for General de Gaulle, he can neither carry it off nor can such a personality survive an onslaught by social media". Instead of "inspiring the country with the grand project of national renewal, he has united the country against himself" with the result that "power has drained from the presidency to the streets".
Could it happen here?
Some might say this could never happen in Britain, but I wouldn't be so sure, says Therese Raphael on Bloomberg. Offshoots of the French protests have already turned up in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. There "is a lot of anger in the UK" and memories of the 2011 London riots are still fresh. The EU may have provided a useful "scapegoat", but the Brexit withdrawal process means that the problems created by "years of austerity, low productivity growth, declining or stagnating wages and rising inequality" can "barely get a government hearing". That's a potentially explosive mix.
Sign up to Money Morning
Our team, led by award winning editors, is dedicated to delivering you the top news, analysis, and guides to help you manage your money, grow your investments and build wealth.
Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.
He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.
Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.
As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri
-
How to invest in nuclear power
We need nuclear power to go green, says Dominic Frisby. But there is a better option than huge power stations
By Dominic Frisby Published
-
Chase slashes its easy-access savings rate – is it time to switch?
The Chase easy-access savings account has proved popular with savers thanks to its competitive rate and bonus deals. But, as the rate has dropped, has it lost its charm?
By Katie Williams Published