Emmanuel Macron’s Euro Zone Dream Died This Week
The president wanted to bring the euro zone closer together, but his response to the gilets jaunes has killed that dream. Berlin is far from blameless.
Macron's vision of a beefed-up euro zone is lying in tatters.
Photographer: Guillaume Souvant/AFP/Getty Images
It took Emmanuel Macron just one speech to ditch his entire strategy for shaking up the euro zone. Upon his election, the French president pledged to respect the monetary union’s budget rules to regain credibility with Germany. Fiscal consolidation and structural reforms weren’t just a way to strengthen the French economy, they were also the key to unlocking significant reforms of the euro zone — including a shared budget.
On Monday night, in his response to the gilets jaunes protests, Macron changed his priorities. Noting that the country was in a state of “social and economic emergency,” he announced a string of measures aimed at helping low- and middle-income workers. These include a 100 euro a month increase in the minimum wage and ending levies on overtime work.