German MEP Andresen: 'Even people close to Macron don’t really understand what he is doing'

As France wrestles with an unwieldy political class, spiraling economic crisis and unraveling political order, German MEP Rasmus Andresen views the country’s political and economic crises not as an insular French problem, but as a European one. The old model, of a presidency able to command majorities, is no longer sustainable in an ultrafragmented party landscape. The inability to collaborate across ideological divides has weakened governance across the board. With France as a linchpin in the EU’s economy, its instability risks contagion: financial markets, deficit pressures, and far‑right ambitions all amplify external vulnerability. Mr. Andresen warns that France must find a new politics of compromise, or risk pushing Europe into a deeper spiral of polarisation and uncertainty.