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Jupiter’s fall? France’s Macron cuts diminished figure in shake-up

For the past seven years, President Emmanuel Macron has basked in the largely undivided attention of the French nation, enjoying freedom in shaping the country's foreign and domestic policy.

Published: 8 September 2024 15:58 CEST
This file photo shows French president Emmanuel Macron (R) with then-Brexit Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier in Paris in 2019.
This file photo shows French president Emmanuel Macron (R) with then-Brexit Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier in Paris in 2019. Barnier has been named as France's new prime minister. (Photo by Michel Euler / POOL / AFP)

The appointment of Michel Barnier, a 73-year-old traditional conservative, as Macron’s new prime minister on Thursday marks the beginning of a new era for a president who once famously said he wanted to rule like Jupiter, the Roman god of the sky and thunder.

Under the new power-sharing arrangement that the Elysee presidential palace calls an era of “demanding coexistence”, Macron will cut a diminished figure both at home and abroad.

“We won’t have the same presidency,” said Anne-Charlene Bezzina, an expert in public law.

“It’s up to the prime minister to get his hands dirty, to build alliances and coalitions. He’s the one who’ll be caught in the National Assembly’s crossfire.”

The appointment of Barnier marked a potential turning point following two months of political chaos in the wake of snap elections called by Macron that left no group close to an overall majority in the National Assembly lower house of parliament.

Barnier, a former foreign minister who acted as the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, quickly indicated he would be his own man.

“The president will preside and the government will govern,” Barnier, the oldest premier in the history of modern France, said on Friday evening.

Macron is expected to be the “guarantor” of France’s institutions and no longer dictate government policy.

Having been known for his top-down leadership style since coming to power in 2017, observers say Macron will have to learn humility.

‘Can’t stand still’

The Elysee presidential office and Matignon, the office of the French prime minister, will no longer share advisers, as has been the case for the past seven years, and Macron’s advisers will no longer attend interministerial meetings.

Barnier will be in charge of the budget, security, immigration and healthcare, and will have to take into account the interests of the far-right National Rally, the single largest party in a fragmented parliament, to avoid a motion of no confidence.

Barnier, a member of the right-wing Republicans (LR) party who is not affiliated with the president’s centrist faction, has promised “change”.

“We’re going to do more than just talk,” he said.

But some are sceptical that Macron will be able to take a back seat on the home front.

“Emmanuel Macron can’t stand still. He won’t be able to remain on the sidelines,” said a former presidential adviser, asking not to be named. “At the slightest jolt, he’ll be back.”

Political scientist Vincent Martigny said he would be surprised if Macron “stopped intervening”.

“Politicians don’t change, least of all Macron,” said Martigny. “They have a method, a personality.”

Macron’s parliamentary group, Ensemble pour la Republique, which has 99 seats, has ruled out any “unconditional” support for Barnier but is expected to be the government’s main bulwark in the lower house.

Several outgoing ministers could also be reappointed, with powerful Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin letting it be known he is keen to stay on, possibly with a promotion to the foreign ministry.

Bezzina said that Barnier comes from the centre right, and “it would be incredible” if he became “a violent opponent of someone whose matrix is relatively compatible”.

 ‘He’s proud’

The shifting political landscape also gives Macron, who has long been criticised for being arrogant and disconnected from reality, an opportunity to reconnect with the French people.

“In the coming weeks, he’ll want to have direct contact with the French,” said an outgoing minister, asking not to be named.

Barnier’s predecessor Gabriel Attal, 35, was France’s youngest-ever prime minister and sparked inevitable comparisons to Macron, who became France’s youngest president at the age of 39.

“He’s a little bit like my little brother,” Macron quipped in June.

The relationship dynamic will be very different between Macron and Barnier, who has a half-century career behind him, observers say.

“He’s proud,” a former minister said of Barnier. “Will he be a puppet? I don’t think so.”

Guillaume Klossa, president of the EuropaNova think tank, struck a similar note.

“He’s never been anyone’s vassal,” he said.

Barnier said that he was open to naming ministers of all political stripes, including “people from the left”.

“He’ll want to choose ministers he considers best for the country himself,” said Klossa.

Political analysts warn that France’s political crisis might be far from over.

Eurasia Group risk analysis firm said that Barnier is likely to have minority support in the Assembly, and the far right’s Marine Le Pen will be key to his hopes of success.

She can bring down the Barnier government “whenever she chooses”, it said. “Le Pen’s position could change at any moment.”

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PARIS

Paris and Milan: Closest in the world to becoming ’15-minute cities’

Paris and Milan are among the cities closest to reaching the urban planning goal of being a "15-minute city," while car-dependent metropolises in the United States and elsewhere lag behind, a worldwide analysis said on Monday.

Published: 16 September 2024 17:29 CEST
Paris and Milan: Closest in the world to becoming '15-minute cities'

In fact, the central areas of many cities already meet the definition of a 15 minute-city, which means that residents are within a quarter-hour walk or bike ride from everything they need to a lead a good life, the analysis found.

But even within a city, there are often stark differences between the wealthy inner cities and the urban sprawl on their outskirts, according to the Italian researchers behind the new study.

The concept of the 15-minute city gained traction during the Covid pandemic, when lockdowns put more focus on local neighbourhoods.

It has since been embraced by dozens of mayors around the world — and become the target of conspiracy theorists online.

For the new study, published in the journal Nature Cities, the researchers built an online database looking at roughly 10,000 cities globally.

They used open source data to map out how far of a walk or cycle residents were from different services, including shops, restaurants, education, exercise and healthcare.

“A lot of people already live in a 15-minute city,” study co-author Hygor Piaget Monteiro Melo told AFP.

But it depends on where you look within a city, he said, because of the inequality in access to services between the centre and periphery.

No ‘utopia’

What is clear, the researchers noted, is that population density is a crucial factor — if enough people are living close enough to each other, it is much easier for them to have easy access to services.

This meant that somewhat smaller yet relatively dense cities such as Italy’s Milan or Spain’s Barcelona scored well on their map, which was made available online.

When it came to the biggest cities, “Paris is an outlier,” lead study author Matteo Bruno told AFP.

The mayor of Paris embraced the concept in 2020, and a “considerable fraction” of the city is below the 15-minute mark, the study said.

Some European cities have a head start because they were built centuries ago at a time before cars — when basically all towns had to be 15-minute cities, the researchers said.

Cities built more recently with cars specifically in mind — particularly in the United States — fared far less well on the map.

Atlanta in particular stood out as being a long way from being a 15-minute city. Future Olympic host Los Angeles also lagged behind most others for walkability, as did several Chinese cities including Chongqing.

But when it comes to cities, there are always trade-offs — and there is no single right answer, the researchers said.

“The 15-minute city is often presented as a utopia — it’s not,” Bruno said.

Americans in sprawled-out cities usually have their own houses and backyards, while Europeans in densely populated cities tend to live in apartments, illustrating the important role played by culture, Bruno said.

And central parts of US cities such as New York, San Francisco and Milwaukee were under the 15-minute threshold.

“Manhattan is definitely one of the most 15-minute places ever in the world,” said Bruno, a researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Rome.

‘Conspiracy mongers’

There has been confusion about the concept in the past, the researchers lamented.

For example, “traffic has nothing to do with the 15-minute city,” Bruno said.

In fact, slow traffic could indicate an area is more pedestrian friendly, he added.

Yet it was new “low-traffic zones” in the UK that turned the ire of conspiracy theorists towards 15-minute city proponents.

Confusing the two ideas, online groups including vaccine and climate sceptics falsely claimed that 15-minute cities were part of a secret plot to restrict the movement of citizens.

The Italian researchers, who have themselves been targeted by “Twitter haters,” emphasised that nothing about the 15-minute city concept involves confining anyone.

Researcher Carlos Moreno, a high-profile proponent of 15-minute cities who has advised Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, was also “attacked by the worldwide conspiracy mongers,” he told AFP.

Moreno welcomed the new study, praising how the idea had swiftly become a topic of interest for researchers around the world.

Just last week, Valerie Pecresse, the right-wing head of the greater Paris Ile-de-France area, presented a plan for a 20-minute region, he pointed out.

Bruno said that the 15-minute metric is just one element in the “recipe” that makes a good city.

Other parts of the recipe include tackling inequality and segregation, improving public transport, reducing traffic and so on, he said.

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