Is Macron girding up for leadership?

Macron, who has been losing ground in the opinion polls, is attempting to position himself as the champion of centrist politics and multilateralism in the run-up to European parliamentary elections in seven months’ time, saying he expects the duel to be one between “progressives” and “nationalists”.

According to the latest Vivavoice poll, Macron has lost 10 points since August with his approval rating now at 26 per cent.

The poll, carried out between October 19 and 22, with a margin of error of between 1.4 and 3.1 per cent, also suggested that nearly two out of three people have a “poor opinion” of him.

“In a Europe divided by fears, the return of nationalism, the consequences of economic crisis, one sees almost systematically everything that marked Europe between the end of the First World War I and the 1929 (economic) crisis,” the paper quoted Macron as saying.

He has notably singled out Hungary and Poland whose nationalist governments have clashed with Brussels, as well as Italy, which has a populist government, including the far-right League party figures.

“Europe faces a risk — that of being broken up by nationalist leprosy and of being pushed around by foreign powers. And thereby losing its sovereignty,” he said.

“That is to say having its security depend on US choices, having China play an ever greater role when it comes to essential infrastructures, and Russia sometimes tempted to try its hand at manipulation, and have financial interests and markets sometimes play greater roles than that of states,” Macron said.