Macron’s action plan ‘rings hollow’ as critics take to the streets banging pots and pans

Protesters bang pots and pans outside a district town hall in Paris during President Emmanuel Macron's televised address to the nation on April 17, 2023. © Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt, AFP

President Emmanuel Macron has given himself “a hundred days” to mend his broken rapport with the French, aiming for a rebound after a gruelling 100-day pension battle that has roiled the nation, infuriated millions, and deepened a crisis in French democracy.

The president’s latest reboot was, as expected, vintage Macron: the solemn tone striving for empathy, the talk of “better sharing wealth”, a reference to Napoleon’s “Hundred Days”, topped off by a parallel with the resurrection of Notre-Dame Cathedral.