Macron’s First of Many Confrontations

The revolt begins. The Financial Times:

Emmanuel Macron is locked in a public battle with France’s senior general over military spending cuts as he faces his toughest opposition yet to proposed austerity measures.

The dispute threatens to become a political crisis as speculation mounts that General Pierre de Villiers, the highly regarded chief of staff, might step down in protest this week ahead of a formal meeting with the French president on Friday.

The spat, over a proposed €850m worth of military cuts, highlights the scale of the challenge facing Mr. Macron as he targets €60bn worth of savings over five years while keeping an election pledge to cut taxes.

Everybody in France loves the idea of budget cuts, but nobody in France is willing to accept budget cuts that affect them. The well-respected head of the armed forces is blackmailing Macron with the threat of a high profile resignation. France is full of other people who will use every weapon that comes to hand to block the cuts that apply to them.

There is no real political constituency for cuts in France, and Macron, a political outsider with no strong, institutional support in the country’s political parties, is going to have the fight of his life as he struggles with the deficit.

If Macron loses, France loses. But too many French don’t care about that so long as their own interests are protected—at least in the short term.

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