‘Fighters’, ‘actors’, ‘talkers’: this is what Swiss in France think of President Macron

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They are hoteliers, club leaders, actresses, retirees, journalists and entrepreneurs. All Swiss living in France. And they all have a clear opinion about Emmanuel Macron, the French president.

Our first conversation partner is a Parisian hotel owner. Discretion is his business and that is why he does not want to see his name in the newspaper. But when he talks about France and its head of state, it just comes out. Especially when it comes to defending him.

‘Macron takes risks’

“Macron embodies everything but a politician who belongs in Switzerland,” says the tourism expert. The president works with intuition and ideas. Focus on temptation. “That is why France is in the spotlight today after seven years of rule,” says the hotelier. Macron likes to receive criticism, but never hides from it. “He is fighting to ensure that France is at the forefront. He takes risks.”

The essayist François Garçon doubles down: “There is actually no comparison between a president like Emmanuel Macron and our Swiss politicians. His charisma is unbeatable.” Even at European level he has few rivals. Only: “As far as political results are concerned, it is something different.”

Garçon refers, for example, to the discussions surrounding the École Nationale d’administration (ENA), the most important training ground in France and a symbol of the elite state. Macron, himself a graduate of the ENA, promised after the yellow vest protests that he wanted to reform the ENA. Conservatives then accused him of destroying an institution. The left saw this as purely symbolic politics.

“Wants to conquer the French, but does he love them?”

Catherine Schwaab was a cultural journalist at ‘Paris Match’ for a long time. The Swiss considers Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Switzerland a good thing. «Macron’s France puts itself in a shop window. He promotes digital start-ups and culture. The capital Paris is constantly on the move. Paris is on the move. Macron is an important part of this showcase,” she says.

Actress Anne Richard, known in France for her role as a judge in the television series ‘Boulevard du Palais’, has lived in Paris for decades. She says of Macron: “He reminds me of an actor. He plays his role. He knows his lyrics by heart.” The trouble is that he rarely leaves the political scene to reach people in rural areas. “You feel that he wants to conquer the French. But you never really know if he really loves her.”

“French cliché”

“Yes, Emmanuel Macron is dividing the French,” confirms pensioner Michel Koeb. “Essentially he embodies the French cliché: urban, harried, determined and selfish. He continues and thinks the rest of the population will follow him.”

Koeb’s wife Silvia says: “He is a president who talks too much. But objectively you have to admit that he tells the French the truths they don’t want to hear.” That is what many do not forgive him for.

Source:Blick