The French Renzi: EM! Emmanuel and Matteo





Emmanuel Macron and Matteo Renzi

 Hailed by many as France's Tony Blair, and with a consistent lead in the polls, Emmanuel Macron seems set to beat off Marine Le Pen and become the next President of the French Republic. But though clearly a politician of the third-way, a more direct parallel for Macron than Blair appears in the form of recently defeated Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. EM may be the acronym of Macron's En Marche movement, as well as his own initials, but it also nicely symbolizes the political affinity of Emmanuel and Matteo, cut as they both seemingly are from the same continental centrist cloth. 

 Parallel Policies

 Not only in style and philosophy, but also in proposed programme does Macron follow Renzi, with some policies outlined in the En Marche manifesto directly paralleling those sought and implemented by the former Italian Prime Minister. 

 The most obvious is the €500 'Culture Pass,' promised by Macron to all 18 year olds should he win, and able to be spent on various cultural activities such as cinema, theatre and concert tickets. In 2015 Renzi introduced an identical programme, awarding €500 culture vouchers, known as 'Renzi money,' to Italian school leavers.

 Also central to Renzi's platform was his dedication to radically reducing the number of elected officials in a political system viewed as unnecessarily cumbersome and stifling. Among the constitutional changes proposed was a two-thirds reduction in the number of senators, from 315 to 100, and an end to the perfect bicameralism of the Italian Parliament (where the two chambers have identical powers, a recipe for frequent deadlock). However, David Cameron was not the only Prime Minister to be toppled in 2016 by his own referendum, for in December Renzi too resigned following popular rejection of his reforms.

Doubtless hoping for more success, and without the necessity of a referendum, Macron puts forward proposals for similar constitutional change for France. Echoing Renzi's cry of 'too many politicians,' the changes would cut the number of seats in the Senate and National Assembly by a third and reduce the administrative regions known as Departments by at least a quarter. 

 Macron's pledge to lighten the burden on low earners by exempting them from contributions to welfare levies (a proposal which aims to put the equivalent of an extra months pay in the pocket of every French employee), also emulates a provision of Renzi's Job's Act which resulted in a saving of €80 for those earning under €1,500 a month. Coupling this with a cut in corporation tax from 33 to 25%, Macron again follows Renzi, who announced similar reductions, from 27.5 to 24%, in the 2016 Italian Budget. Macron's proposal would see the lowest corporate tax rate ever set in a historically high-tax France. Having successfully dragged Italy out of a triple-dip recession and returned her to growth, Macron could find worse models to emulate than Renzi's government when seeking to similarly boost the ailing economy bequeathed to him by Hollande. 

Walking The Middle Way

But beside these and other examples of the Macron tracing Renzi's footsteps, it is also in the more general walk of the French candidate, in his stance, and in his step, that the close resemblance between Emmanuel and Matteo can be found. Both are true radicals, battling the forces of conservatism to seek dramatic change in each of their respective countries. They respond to and address a genuine dissatisfaction with the status quo, while avoiding the lure of an easy populism rich in slogans but short on results. Instead, they tred a different path. Free of the fetters of the past, yet not blind to its lessons; committed to conserving the inherited good as equally as correcting the lingering bad, Macron and Renzi walk hand in hand along the Middle Way. 

 The Centre Resurgent 

 Closely watching developements in France, support avowedly declared for Macron, Renzi reportedly sees in the French centrist's rise hope for his own return to power. As the Centre steadies itself after many blows, regaining its rightful place at the heart of European politics, perhaps, once the apprentice is swept to the Elysees, the master can find his own way back to the Chigi. At last, the Centre again moves Forwards!

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