May 28, 2024 - 11:50am

Rishi Sunak likes to pretend he’s the man with a plan. But if anyone deserves that title, it’s Emmanuel Macron. The French President has plotted a course through domestic and EU politics that almost defies belief.

It’s not just that he captured the Élysée Palace at the tender age of 39, but that in the process he elbowed aside both of what had been the main parties. Since then, he’s held Marine Le Pen at bay, winning re-election in 2022 by 59 to 41%. With Angela Merkel now on history’s scrapheap — and the Netherlands’ Mark Rutte departing under a Geert Wilders-shaped cloud — Macron is unchallenged as Europe’s preeminent statesman.

Though the French constitution requires Macron to step down in 2027, he’s still playing the long game. His latest move is a manoeuvre to get Mario Draghi into a leading EU role. Draghi was the president of the European Central Bank from 2011-19 who vowed to do “whatever it takes” to save the single currency during the Eurozone crisis. He succeeded, though at the price of extreme austerity, especially for the Greek people.

Draghi went on to serve as prime minister of his native Italy from 2021-22, but his technocratic turn arguably helped accelerate the rise of Giorgia Meloni and her retail brand of Right-wing populism.

The reason why Macron wants him back — this time in Brussels — is because the EU is in desperate need of leadership. With the populist threat within and the Russian threat on the outside, it’s become painfully obvious that non-entities such as Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission) and Charles Michel (President of the European Council) won’t do.

Clearly, the EU wants a big establishment figure to front the bloc. But can the French President swing a top job for his Italian ally? He’d need the support of various EU power-brokers, including the skinflint Germans. Macron has managed to buck the system before when, five years ago, it suited him and Merkel to install von der Leyen. He can also make the argument that it isn’t a choice between change and the status quo, but between change Macron-style or change Le Pen-style. Finally, he might remind the Germans that they owe Draghi a favour for services rendered during the Eurozone crisis.

There’s another quality that recommends Draghi — his age. At 76, he’s unlikely to serve more than one term as Commission president — or whatever role they find for him. So time enough to establish a genuinely influential position of leadership, but not to outstay his welcome.

Indeed, if Draghi succeeds in giving the EU a degree of forward direction, then within a few years the search will be on for a worthy successor. One wonders if Emmanuel Macron, the man with a plan, has anyone in mind.


Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

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