French President Macron plays at being King Louis XIV

This 29 June 2017 Luxembourg TV French language video is about similarities between French President Macron and 17th century absolute French monarch Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King’.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

‘King’ Macron speaks in Versailles, critics criticize grandeur

Today, 11:01

All eyes are on President Emmanuel Macron again when he will speak in the Versailles Palace to the entire French parliament. In a kind of King’s Speech, he wants to explain the outline of his policy.

Such a speech might seem a logical beginning of Macron‘s presidency, but the young head of state is the first one ever to start his term in that way. France does not have a State of the Union tradition, as in the United States. Macron‘s predecessors spoke to the full parliament only at the height of the financial crisis (Nicolas Sarkozy, 2009) and after terrorist attacks in Paris (François Hollande, 2015).

Macron has his speech at 3:00 pm in Versailles, the Palace of Louis XIV. …

‘Sun King’ Macron is said to behave more and more like a monarch. The fact that he now holds his first big speech in the Versailles environment is said to be pure imagery. A political fairy is being told, critics say.

Additionally, Macron chose to be on stage one day earlier than his prime minister, Édouard Philippe. It is usual for government leaders to announce the government plans in a speech to the National Assembly, but it is questionable what the Prime Minister may add tomorrow.

Critics see Macron’s planning the evidence that he is authoritarian and dominates his cabinet members. …

The criticism is also substantive. Since Macron has been elected on 7 May, he has hardly spoken out about emerging domestic problems. He has abolished a traditional press interview on the Quatorze Juillet holiday. According to critics, Macron likes having nice pictures, but does not like difficult questions. They wonder what he has done in two months. …

[NOS correspondent] Renout, with a wink: “In Versailles the former French kings were honoured, but that same king was beheaded later.”

Some of Macron‘s opponents refuse to participate in what they call ‘a show’. The seventeen members of the left-wing La France Insoumise of presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon boycott the meeting. The group president of [centre right] Les Républicains also will not attend.

Apart from King Louis XIV, Macron is also compared to the French Napoleon Bonaparte imperial dynasty.

On Monday, newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron called together the two houses of the French parliament to deliver an extended address on his government’s policies. Macron called for military escalation in Africa and broad-ranging changes to the basic institutions of the French government, in line with the historic attacks he is preparing on social and democratic rights in France: here.

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