Europe 1 11:43 a.m., January 08, 2023, modified at 11:47 a.m., January 08, 2023

The question of pensions should be the great reform of Emmanuel Macron's five-year term.

A reform "at a minimum", regrets Franz-Olivier Giesbert, who considers that the president does not have the makings of a great reformer.

Guest of the Grand Rendez-vous, the editorialist underlines that what does not work with the head of state comes from a "problem of narcissism".

INTERVIEW

This Tuesday, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne will unveil the main lines of the highly contested pension reform, with a retirement age now envisaged at 64.

For their part, the unions are already planning to take to the streets.

But does this major reform make Emmanuel Macron a great politician?

For Franz-Olivier Giesbert, guest this Sunday of the Grand Rendez-vous d'Europe 1 / Les Échos / CNews, "retirement will be a

minimum

reform " of Emmanuel Macron's two five-year terms.

The editorialist at Point, writer and author of

Intimate History of the Fifth Republic Volume 2, La Belle Époque

published by Gallimard, considers that what does not work with the President of the Republic comes from a “problem of narcissism. Emmanuel Macron is someone who looks at himself a lot in the mirror".

“He has good intuitions but never goes all the way”

Taking as an example the "absolutely horrible scenes" of Emmanuel Macron on the field of the Lusail stadium, in Qatar, at the end of the World Cup final lost by the French football team, Franz-Olivier Giesbert considers that ' "there is something wrong".

But according to the editorialist, on the other hand, the president in the image of "someone sympathetic, as we see on the program Papotin, but who also has good intuitions. His fight for European defense is very fair. In fact, he has good intuitions but it never goes to the end", he summarizes.

>> Find the Grand Rendez-vous every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Europe 1 as well as in podcast and replay here 

According to Franz-Olivier Giesbert, the problem comes from the fact "that he does not delegate. If you compare General de Gaulle, François Mitterrand, all these great presidents, they had people around them who hated them and they didn't care", explains the author of

Intimate History of the Fifth Republic.

"The only strong personality in government is Bruno Le Maire"

For the editorialist, the president does not have the makings of a great reformer, because "he has the energy but not the method. We took someone who was vaguely Minister of the Economy for a few months , after having been mainly a banker or having worked in cabinets. He does not know what power is.

Insisting that Emmanuel Macron should "learn to delegate" because "the only strong personality who is in government is Bruno Le Maire", Franz-Olivier Giesbert lists various French political figures who he believes should be part of the entourage of the president.

"In the Socialist Party, there are exceptional people like Bernard Cazeneuve or Stéphane Le Foll, the mayor of Le Mans. On the right too, there is David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes, even if he does not spare him. Or Laurent Wauquiez,[...] Christian Estrosi... The list is long", concludes the editorialist.