AP, Paris :
As French President Emmanuel Macron looks ahead to 2018, he finds himself back up in the polls and poised to face major challenges at home and in Europe.
Macron is wrapping up a remarkable year. In the seven months since he won a long-shot presidential bid, he has emerged as a key world leader at the forefront of the battles against terrorism and climate change.
Now the hard part seems to lie ahead: transforming France, where critics have branded him arrogant and authoritarian, with some saying he evokes a long-lost monarch. After a rocky start on the domestic front, things are looking much better for the French president, the country’s youngest leader since Napoleon, who turned 40 on Dec. 21.
A string of French polls show a clear surge in popularity in December, after last summer Macron’s popularity fell to a near record low for a newly elected president.
Surveys by Ifop, BVA and Odoxa institutes showed a clear jump, with 52 percent of the French saying they are “satisfied” or have a “good opinion,” of Macron, up some ten points from November and around 40 in September.
Macron, who himself admits he “came out of nowhere” to win over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, has since been on a parade of trips abroad while welcoming international visitors at home.
From his tense, white-knuckle handshake with President Donald Trump, to a major climate summit in Paris earlier this month, Macron has seized on the U.S. administration’s focus on domestic issues to earn a prominent place on the international scene.
After Trump declared he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, Macron launched his “Make the Planet Great Again” initiative and called on U.S. researchers to come to France.
After the Brexit vote, he invited London-based international companies to move to Paris and toured many EU member states to promote his pro-European ideas.
He emerged as the most influential European leader this autumn, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel was bogged down with months with coalition talks following an election.
He maintained France’s military involvement in the battle against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and over 4,000 troops fighting extremism in Africa’s Sahel region. More recently, he offered to be a mediator in Lebanon and Gulf crisis.
An in an unprecedented move from a French president, Macron tweets and speaks in English when addressing an international audience.
As French President Emmanuel Macron looks ahead to 2018, he finds himself back up in the polls and poised to face major challenges at home and in Europe.
Macron is wrapping up a remarkable year. In the seven months since he won a long-shot presidential bid, he has emerged as a key world leader at the forefront of the battles against terrorism and climate change.
Now the hard part seems to lie ahead: transforming France, where critics have branded him arrogant and authoritarian, with some saying he evokes a long-lost monarch. After a rocky start on the domestic front, things are looking much better for the French president, the country’s youngest leader since Napoleon, who turned 40 on Dec. 21.
A string of French polls show a clear surge in popularity in December, after last summer Macron’s popularity fell to a near record low for a newly elected president.
Surveys by Ifop, BVA and Odoxa institutes showed a clear jump, with 52 percent of the French saying they are “satisfied” or have a “good opinion,” of Macron, up some ten points from November and around 40 in September.
Macron, who himself admits he “came out of nowhere” to win over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, has since been on a parade of trips abroad while welcoming international visitors at home.
From his tense, white-knuckle handshake with President Donald Trump, to a major climate summit in Paris earlier this month, Macron has seized on the U.S. administration’s focus on domestic issues to earn a prominent place on the international scene.
After Trump declared he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, Macron launched his “Make the Planet Great Again” initiative and called on U.S. researchers to come to France.
After the Brexit vote, he invited London-based international companies to move to Paris and toured many EU member states to promote his pro-European ideas.
He emerged as the most influential European leader this autumn, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel was bogged down with months with coalition talks following an election.
He maintained France’s military involvement in the battle against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and over 4,000 troops fighting extremism in Africa’s Sahel region. More recently, he offered to be a mediator in Lebanon and Gulf crisis.
An in an unprecedented move from a French president, Macron tweets and speaks in English when addressing an international audience.
