French press review
In the spotlight: no booster effect for Macron
Audio 04:21
Re-elected President of the Republic on April 24, Emmanuel Macron maintains a 41% favorable opinion, according to an Ifop poll.
© REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
By: Norbert Navarro
3 mins
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Emmanuel Macron deprived of a state of grace at the start of his five-year term.
According to an Ifop poll for
Le Journal du Dimanche
, the first of its kind since his re-election five weeks ago, the president remains becalmed at 41% satisfaction rate among the French, a level identical to that of the end of the previous five-year term.
Emmanuel Macron remains on his "
electoral base
" (senior executives, elderly people) underlines
Le JDD.
But this weekly also notes that the president "
drops
" among private sector employees and 50-64 year olds, "
those whose purchasing power resists badly to the outbreak of inflation
".
Pap Ndiaye, wet firecracker
In the kiosks, however, the successor of Jean-Michel Blanquer is noticed on the front page of the weekly
L'Obs
.
However, the appointment of the new Minister of National Education “
is a nice political coup
” by the Head of State, underlines this magazine.
Which newspaper admits that it is “
distressing that in France, in 2022, the accession of a black man to the head of a sovereign ministry like that of National Education is causing an event.
But the fact is: it's not nothing, after a second round of the presidential election marked by the presence of the far right
”, points
out L'Obs.
Pap Ndiaye follower of "wokism"?
In this magazine, the historian Emmanuelle Loyer assures that on several occasions, Pap Ndiaye has warned against the “
sectarianism
” of certain decolonial struggles.
He criticizes single-sex meetings, but admits in
Elle
magazine in 2020 that they can be considered “
as moments in their history when groups need to experience themselves as such
”.
He understands some unbolting of statues, but thinks that “
there are also other, more creative ways of doing it.
Like relying on these monuments to make history
, ”reports
L'Obs.
Russian logic sotto voce
In Ukraine, the Russian noose is tightening in the Donbass region.
And in the press, this week, the Russian vision of this conflict is also progressing?
This is the case in the weekly
L'Express
, where Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at the American University of Harvard, believes that "
it was a mistake to start expanding NATO towards the east in the 1990s, even though Russia was very weak and could do nothing to oppose it
(…)
At some point, this process was inevitably going to cause problems,
estimates Stephen Walt in
The Express.
The realists kept saying that Russia, like any major power, could not remain indifferent as the world's most powerful military alliance continued to move its forces and members on or near its border.
And, of course, that is precisely what we have seen happen
.”
“
Time and time again, we have simply ignored Russia's concerns.
And if you're a Russian leader watching this happen for twenty years or more, you're bound to worry about what the United States and its allies might do in the future.
I believe it was this mindset that helped convince Putin that he needed to use force in Ukraine.
It was a serious mistake on his part, but he thought he had no choice
, ”regrets Stephen Walt in
L’Express.
In the eye of the storm
Now it is nothing less than a global crisis that many fear.
"
All economic players
" would agree, a crisis is coming, but no warning sign is visible, notes the weekly
Le Point
.
"
Many of us are concerned, there is a deaf concern, but we don't see anything materializing on the ground
," said Laurent Mignon to this weekly.
Chairman of the management board of the Banques Populaires et Caisses d'Epargne group, this expert depicts the economic situation
as “a great calm before the storm
”.
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