Emmanuel Macron, if he had been born in another time, would have conquered half of Europe by now. He might even have installed a puppet Prince Harry as his vassal in London, having first raised an army for him in Normandy then dispatched his ageing father with the help of our scheming and embittered grand barons. This is not what history has handed him. Only 39 when he became President, his energy and ambition have come up against the very real constraints of European politics — both the French public and those pesky partners’ vetoes.
It’s tempting, with the rubbish piling up in Paris and protests against his pension reforms spoiling his international image, to dismiss Macron. To write him off as another politician endorsed by The Economist that didn’t quite work. That would be a mistake — the Centrists were right — because Macron has nevertheless made himself a historical figure. One that has made the EU much more robust than it would have been otherwise.
