The presidency of Emmanuel Macron, who wanted to lift French “blockages” when he launched his party in 2016, has sunk into immobility. And the political space he had unified has become more fragmented than ever, one year before the presidential election.
It’s a strange anniversary. Or rather a non-anniversary, as the festivities are reduced to the bare minimum. Ten years ago, on April 6, 2016, Emmanuel Macron, then Minister of Economy under François Hollande, announced the launch of a “new political movement.” There was officially no talk of running for the presidential election: “not my priority,” shouted the thirty-something, who nevertheless named his party En Marche, with initials corresponding to his own, a sign of a voracious personal ambition. We know the rest.
A decade later, En Marche is called Renaissance, and Emmanuel Macron, although the honorary president, has no more power over his own creation, captured since 2024 by Gabriel Attal, with whom relations are polarized. The former prime minister did send an email to supporters to celebrate the ten years of this “crazy bet,” but only mentioned the president’s name once in his message. So far…
[Context: The article evaluates the evolution of Emmanuel Macron’s political movement, En Marche, as it celebrates its tenth anniversary. Fact Check: The text discusses the changing dynamics within the party and Macron’s diminishing influence over it.]
