Emmanuel Macron’s tricky Christmas present
He must “run Europe” even as he runs for re-election as president of France
WHEN EMMANUEL MACRON peers under his Christmas tree this year, he will find that le Père Noël has left him an unusually big, tantalisingly shiny, but awkwardly shaped gift. Call it a year in a present. For 2022 brings a double challenge. From January for six months, France will run the European Union’s rotating jamboree, the presidency of the Council of the EU. Yet Mr Macron is also expected to be campaigning for re-election as French president in April. To run Europe, as the job will doubtless be portrayed at home, as well as France, sounds like a Macron fantasy come true. For other Europeans, the president’s gift, like a toy trumpet, could turn out to be noisy, unpredictable and exhausting.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “A bittersweet Noël”
From the December 18th 2021 edition
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