🎧 Macron vs Everyone

Episode summary: We talk to Shahin Vallee, former economics advisor to Emmanuel Macron, about the state of the Macron presidency: from the gilets jaunes to the pensions protests, from dealing with Merkel to facing off with Putin, and from now to the next presidential election in 2022. Did Macron save the centre of French politics or has he destroyed it? Can he really be sure he’ll beat Le Pen next time? And what is his plan to rescue the West? Plus, we discuss what the Griveaux and Mila affairs tell us about the state of French politics. With Helen Thompson. Talking Points: How should we relate the gilets jaunes and the pensions protests? - The pensions reform is a more traditional opposition to neoliberal reforms; the gilets jaunes is different and it includes a number of people who do not regularly express themselves politically. - The gilets jaunes crystallize a more profound opposition to the French political system. Macron has centralized the French system to a remarkable extent. - This is in part because of the…