Europes greatest showman

LONDON — Emmanuel Macrons love letter to Europe was pure theater — and pure Macron.

Perhaps more than any other politician, the French president has a knack for grabbing hold of the European news agenda. Through moments of exuberant showmanship, Macron has constructed an instantly recognizable brand, executed a dizzying rise to power, and maintained the attention of the Continent ever since.

When hes stumbled — most recently when he came under assault by the anti-establishment Yellow Jackets movement — Macron has used public spectacles, such as town hall-style meetings or a much-touted Franco-German Aachen Treaty with Chancellor Angela Merkel, to regain the upper hand.

This weeks open letter to Europe — which ran in newspapers in every EU country — is no exception. To focus on its contents and policy proposals is to miss the point of the exercise. Its real import lies in what it tells us about the direction of politics on a rapidly changing Continent.

Macrons letter is a rallying cry for a more active and powerful EU. It was, on the one hand, aimed primarily at a domestic audience. The French president is seeking to attract the support of voters who — although broadly in favor of the EU — would be more inclined to vote for Frances Socialists, the Greens or the center-right Les Républicains.

The President takes part in the “great national debate” he launched in response t the Yellow Jacket protest| Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

With his La République En Marche party polling just above 20 percent — neck-and-neck with far-right leader Marine Le Pens National Rally — Macron cant afford to lose any support to the right or left.

But the letter had another audience too. The immediate controversy his proposals generated across Europe handed Macron another opportunity to market himself as the only leader capable of defending the European project from a populist takeover.

The extent to which Macron put his personal prestige on the line in the battle for the European Parliament — and the traction his message received across Europe — also speaks to his recognition that the European political stage is crucial to national leaders.

A decade or two ago, heads of state would have treated the European Parliament election as a mere sideshow. Now, the increasingly visible concentration of collective power in the hands of EU institutions has made them prizes worth expending serious political capital to win.

Everyone is jockeying to decide the EUs future.

Its not an easy battleground on which to gain the upper hand.

Successive crises — eurozone, migration, Brexit — created the necessity for cross-border political debate. But their fallout has polarized societies and envenomed national party politics.

The high stakes eleRead More