Summoning over 900 politicians from both houses of the French parliament
to a rare Congress at the palace of Louis XIV – the ‘Sun King’ – in
Versailles, he
threatened
to overrule lawmakers with a referendum if they try to frustrate the
“reforms” he wishes to impose on the legislature. Such assemblies are
usually reserved for times of national crisis.
Reuters reports him as saying he desires to reign as a “
Jupiterian” president – “a remote, dignified figure, like the Roman god of gods, who weighs his rare pronouncements carefully".
This bizarre statement of intent comes just days after Macron
scrapped the president’s traditional Bastille Day press conference, with
an Elysée Palace official
claiming the 39-year-old’s thoughts are “too complex” for journalists.
Macron’s “complex thought process lends itself badly to the game of
question-and-answer with journalists”, the spokesman explained –
prompting much
mockery in the French press.
It has been speculated that Macron is keen to cultivate an aloof, almost
imperial aura after being derided as a placeman for the unpopular
socialist François Hollande, in whose government he served as economy
minister, or as a poodle for Angela Merkel, the German chancellor widely
regarded as the European Union’s driving force.
“You are the heir of François Hollande,” scoffed nationalist rival
Marine Le Pen during their head-to-head election debate. “We now call
you Baby Hollande; Hollande Junior!”
She added that, whatever the outcome of the election, “France will be led by a woman: either me or Mrs. Merkel.”
Much of the commentary on Macron’s alleged natural submissiveness
hints at his relationship with his wife – twenty-five years his senior –
with Italy’s larger-than-life former president Silvio Berlusconi
teasing that he is “a nice lad with a good-looking mum”.
Efforts by the EU loyalist to strengthen his public standing by
picking fights with the governments of Central Europe, who have been
resolutely defiant in the face of attempts by Brussels to
impose compulsory migrant quotas on them, have been less than successful.
Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán gently
dismissed him as “a new boy” who had yet to find his feet.
“Macron’s entrance wasn’t too encouraging, as he thought the best way
to show friendship was to immediately kick Central European countries.
This isn’t how we do things around here, but he’ll soon get to know his
way around,” he added.
Posing as the EU’s champion against President Donald Trump has also
backfired, with a pointed, public snub of the U.S. leader in favour of
Angela Merkel and other Europeans at a NATO summit ending in
embarrassment when the 70-year-old manhandled him with a powerful
handshake.
Macron was clearly rattled by the exchange, granting a brief
interview with journalists in order to emphasise that another handshake
with President Trump – in which the Frenchman
clung on
for dear life – was a “moment of truth” in which he supposedly
demonstrated that he “would not make small concessions, not even
symbolic ones”.
Breitbart
