Emmanuel Macron has set off on his six-week political tour de France aimed at “taking the pulse” of the country as it emerges from the coronavirus crisis, reports The Guardian.
In the run-up to regional elections this month and, more importantly, the presidential battle next year, the French leader will make two regional visits a week until mid-July.
The meet-the-French exercise is aimed at promoting what he calls the “forgotten successes” of his last four years in office, overshadowed by 14 months of on-off coronavirus lockdowns and before that more than a year of gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests.
“Just days after the first reopenings and with the summer season approaching, these visits will be an occasion for the head of state to meet the French people, to promote our tourist heritage with a view to the coming holidays and to emphasise the importance of tourism, a major sector for our economy, which has been hard hit by the health crisis,” a statement from the Élysée read.
On Wednesday the president visited the medieval village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, previously voted France’s most picturesque village, and Martel, both in the Lot department in south-west France.
Presidential aides said the aim of the visits was to “listen rather than speak”. Part of Macron’s pre-election offensive has been to drop the formal speeches in order to woo younger voters, who have been among those worst hit by the social and economic consequences of coronavirus.
Ten days ago the president took part in a true-or-false anecdote game with the popular YouTube duo Mcfly et Carlito – real names David Coscas and Raphaël Carlier, who have more than 6.6 million followers. The 36-minute video, filmed at the Élysée Palace and released on 23 May, was seen by almost 9 million people in 24 hours and has now been watched by well over 13 million.
With abstentions likely to be a key part of next year’s presidential election, and polls suggesting that young voters questioning their futures post-pandemic are being tempted by political extremes, French analysts viewed the Mcfly et Carlito video as a masterstroke of political marketing.
“The president needs to show he’s not shut up in his ivory tower and that he’s still in touch with young people and current trends,” said Le Monde.
However, others felt Macron risked alienating part of the electorate that viewed such antics as dumbing down the “presidential status”, a view not mitigated by Macron appearing in a formal suit and tie.
Laurent Jacobelli, a spokesperson for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, told FranceInfo: “To put the last nail in the coffin of the presidential function, he becomes a YouTuber.”
Mathieu Slama, a political consultant, said the exercise demonstrated a “purely utilitarian vision of politics, dominated by marketing thinking that divides the electorate into targets to be addressed separately”. He dismissed it as “pure entertainment, therefore overall rather painful to watch”.
“With this video, the Élysée is moving out of the political arena and placing itself solely on the terrain of entertainment and spectacle,” Slama wrote in Le Figaro. “This video is without precedent in the history of political communication. It is therefore anything but anecdotal, and says something serious about the way in which power now considers communication and the political function today.”
Last month Macron announced via TikTok that an experimental “culture pass” scheme was to be extended and that all 18-year-olds would be offered €300 (£260) to spend on artistic and cultural activities including cinema or theatre tickets, books and art materials, musical instruments, museum visits or dance, singing or acting classes.