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in the southern hinterland of the capital, that the most widely seen posters are those of the local high school rather than the union one.

Such a massive movement against Macron has also made possible the lack of a right-wing grip on the demonstrations, pretty much the contrary of what happened in Italy with Matteo Salvini and GiorgiaMeloni.

Marine Le Pen, France’s hard-right leader, proposed a popular referendum on the issue, but struggled to carry a structured opposition in the Parliament, where the left-wing MPs of the NUPES alliance have played the biggest role in filibustering and opposing the bill.

The biggest demonstration is due to come on March 6th. It will gather hundreds of thousands of people, but Macron doesn’t seem to tremble. He’s used to ruling without popular support, favored by a majority electoral system that has always put the French face to the choice between him and Le Pen.

This reform is for Macron an occasion to showcase strength to his allies in Europe, mostly Germans, as he wants to take the EU leadership, a pretty impossible challenge without having strong liberal credentials. What he’s doing is a trade-off, the partial dismantling of the French welfarestate, already experimented before on unemployment insurance, for leading the continent. It’s a mixture of oldstyle French grandeur and post-liberalism: a formula that is causing the total delegitimization of the Macron presidency among his very own people, as his disapproval rate according to Politico goes beyond 60%.

Destroying the solidarity between the people and the institutions is not a good start for a likely European leadership. A rotten France in such an intertwined political landscape as Europe would cause an incredible instability. That’s a truth that should probably drive Macron in order not to take France on the brink of another “revolutionary” season.