President Emmanuel Macron found himself having to defend his love of France and the French against critics at home on Thursday after suggesting during a visit to Denmark that his compatriots were slow to accept change, reports Reuters.
Speaking to Denmark’s Queen Margrethe during an audience in Copenhagen on Wednesday, Macron praised the Danes as a “Lutheran people” open to new ideas, while he described the French as “Gauls who are resistant to change”.
The lightly delivered aside prompted a flood of criticism from domestic opponents.
“It is unacceptable to hear the president criticize and caricature the French like this,” said Laurent Wauquiez, head of the center-right Les Republicains party.
Marine Le Pen of the far-right said the comment showed Macron held the French in contempt and far-left deputy Alexis Corbière called it “utter nonsense”.
Macron, who has made reform a watchword of his presidency, defended himself, saying the comment was meant humorously and people shouldn’t get swallowed up by social media outrage.
“I don’t have the feeling it’s a scoop that France was originally made up of Gallic tribes, which for me is something to be very proud of,” he told a news conference in Helsinki, the final leg of a three-day visit to the Nordic region.