The submarine crisis, a thorn in Emmanuel Macron’s side for 2022? – LCI

The timing is not ideal. Seven months before the first round of the presidential election, Australia’s breach of the French submarine contract is a thorn in Emmanuel Macron’s side. A weakness on which his opponents and future opponents do not fail to insist. “No one can imagine that we were not aware of Australia’s willingness to give up, to break this contract”, said Marine Le Pen on Tuesday. “Emmanuel Macron since the start of his mandate has gone from failure to failure. He did not get anything, he even managed to lose what he had obtained, what others had obtained”, criticized the one who also urges him to come out of his silence and question France’s commitment to NATO.

Also this Tuesday on LCI, the candidate for the LR primary and deputy for the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti estimated that Emmanuel Macron was “accountant of a form of decommissioning. He wanted to give lessons to the whole world and today we see that he is not taken seriously “. “France is alone and France is weakened”, he estimated.

Last Sunday, RN president Jordan Bardella also felt that this affair was “the umpteenth symbol of French decline”. “Our country has been weak for years because it is run by weak people. We cannot be surprised at this type of action when we have sold our interests for years.” At the LCI / RTL / Le Figaro Grand Jury, Xavier Bertrand saw the breach of this contract “a symbol of weakness” from France. “The President of the Republic must give explanations himself, not a minister” he added, also criticizing Macron’s lack of speaking, “to absent subscribers”.

This setback weakens Emmanuel Macron’s international stature, which is important to anyone running – or representing him – in the presidential election. It dulls its image as the flagship of French industry and tech, and organizer of major “Made in France” and “Made in France” trade fairs or exhibitions. To AFP, Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris), estimated that “if we don’t win a presidential election on international issues, we can lose them on these issues”.

While during his mandate the Head of State presided over foreign policy, today he “is a little up against the wall and will have to play tight”, judged with AFP the political scientist and professor Frédéric Charillon. “We expect him to be up to the task, for him it is both an opportunity and a risk.” According to Pascal Boniface, “If Emmanuel Macron gets something from the United States and he manages to save face, the French will be grateful to him, if he gets nothing, it will be to his detriment”.