A speech that settled nothing

Speaking from the Élysée Palace on Sunday evening, after one of the most violent days of rioting and looting in France's recent history, Macron delivered an eight-minute address expressing "anger and shame". He acknowledged young people's deep anxiety, but offered no concrete policy initiatives, no cabinet reshuffle and no new public spending, instead telling his prime minister to organise consultations and asking opposition politicians to take a stand.

The cost of the weekend was heavy: more than 2,000 shops were looted, 2,300 people were arrested and 1,000 police were injured, while Limoges' city hall was set on fire and Marseille's was invaded. But the political reaction that followed has done more to expose how alone the president now stands.

Criticism from allies and opponents alike

• Marine Tondelier, the Greens leader, accused Macron of "summoning us to the PM's office like pupils to the blackboard" rather than admitting fault.
• Jordan Bardella of National Rally called the speech "lamentable" and said Macron had "nothing left to say" to the French.
• Marine Le Pen said the country was "caught in a vice between violence and impotence".
• Centre-right figure Bruno Retailleau described Macron as "totally overwhelmed".
• Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused the president of relying on "inaction and police brutality" in hopes the protests would fizzle out.
• Édouard Philippe, Macron's former prime minister, said he would have preferred "decisions and initiatives that might lead to a return to order and the restoration of state authority … Our country needs to be governed."

Even Macron's own camp broke ranks. Jean-Baptiste Moreau, a former MP from the president's party, suggested this weekend that Macron should resign and call early presidential elections. He told Le Monde: "Macron still thinks he can change things … at the moment, Marine Le Pen is on a direct path to the Élysée Palace."

A weakened president facing an election

Macron's loss of room to manoeuvre did not begin with this weekend's unrest. Having come to power in 2017 as a "Jupiterian" president above daily politics, he lost a functional parliamentary majority by declining to meaningfully campaign between the 2022 presidential and legislative elections. Two years later he dissolved the national assembly, and voters returned an even more deadlocked parliament split between a divided left, a diminished centrist bloc and the far right.

Without a working majority, the government has repeatedly used controversial constitutional manoeuvres to force through laws without a parliamentary vote, drawing accusations of democratic illegitimacy. The centrist coalition built around Macron's brand has all but collapsed, and if the protests persist the main beneficiary would be the law-and-order champions of the far right.

The economy that constrains him

The president's options are also narrowed by France's public finances. The national debt stands at 119% of GDP, its highest level since 1946, and the budget deficit, at 5.1%, is among the highest in the EU. France's borrowing costs are now higher than Greece's, a sign of market concern.

That fiscal squeeze helps explain why the Sunday address offered consultations rather than new spending. The gilets jaunes movement, revived as part of the weekend's protests, is itself a product of frustrations over living costs, widening inequality and falling public spending.

The presidential election to choose Macron's successor is six months away.