Macron Says Dissolving Parliament Sowed Division, Urges Unity

(Bloomberg) — French President Emmanuel Macron admitted that his decision to dissolve parliament last summer had backfired, leading to more division and political turmoil, while he called for greater unity to meet the nation’s challenges.

“Lucidity and humility require the recognition that at this time this decision has produced more instability than serenity,” Macron said during his annual New Year’s Eve address on Tuesday. “And I take my full share of it.”

The president said he hopes the new year will be one of collective recovery, bringing stability and “the right compromises to make the right decisions in the service of the French, because we cannot afford to wait.” The first step will be to adopt a budget for 2025, he added. 

He also broached the possibility of referendums on topics ranging from the economy to security.

The president’s speech came after his popularity sank to its lowest level since he took office in 2017. His approval rating dropped in 2024 to a record low of 21%, according to a poll by Elabe published by Les Echos last week. Much of the decline is driven by the political chaos that followed his decision to dissolve the lower house of parliament in June. 

He made the move in what he said was an effort to bring clarity to French politics after the National Rally triumphed in European elections. The gamble instead delivered a National Assembly split into three irreconcilable blocs — a leftist alliance, a shrunken center backing Macron, and a strengthened far-right party led by Marine Le Pen.

Macron took two months to appoint Michel Barnier as prime minister following the legislative elections, hoping the man who led the Brexit negotiations on behalf of the European Union could narrow the deep divisions. But the negotiations around the 2025 budget bill exacerbated tensions, and when the premier used a constitutional tool to bypass a vote on a related bill, Le Pen joined forces with the left to support a no-confidence motion that brought down the government.

Francois Bayrou, a longtime centrist figure, was then appointed premier to replace Barnier, becoming France’s fourth prime minister in a year. Crafting the budget bill for 2025 that can win parliamentary support will be his most urgent task at the start of the new year, and also the most challenging given the nation’s fractious parliamentary landscape.

Economic indicators for France, meanwhile, are pointing downward amid the political uncertainty, which has pushed investors to sell French assets, driving up the country’s borrowing costs compared with European peers.

Macron, in his speech, said it’s essential for France to stay on the leading edge of technologies, such as artificial intelligence, that are shaping the world. He also pushed for the country, and Europe, to take a bigger role in their own defense.

“There can be no prosperity without security,” he said.

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