The French president has promised to find economic and social solutions to the problems leading to the recent riots in France, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that he neither can nor really wants to solve the issues.
The events took a turn for the worse over the weekend when “yellow vest” protestors decided to take over Paris. Authorities almost immediately lost control: the protestors tore up the pavement, erected barricades and turned violent against law enforcement, which responded with rubber batons, tear gas and water cannons.
On November 27th, Macron unveiled his energy program that seems to have hit a nerve. Despite this, he remains determined to carry it through saying that the environment is more important than the everyday problems of people.
Macron wants to promote electric cars, close 12 nuclear plants and spend EUR 8 billion on renewable energy sources. He said “we cannot do something for the environment on Monday and something else against high petrol prices on Tuesday”. The program and his comments indicate that the only thing he can actually do is blame the far-right for inciting the riots.
This – despite what Macron and friends say – is not true: the far right is cautiously avoiding any involvement, seeing how the rioters come equally from the right and the left. So far, beyond his rhetoric, Macron only seems to be able to “treat the symptoms” of the problem with batons and rubber bullets.
