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The days were tense and turbulent on both sides of the Channel, destroying the popularity rates of British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron. Both have been forced to make sudden retirements to their governments and are now trying the same strategy to keep their jobs: to gain time to calm the deep internal crises caused by the divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union and by the movement of "yellow vests". which spreads over French territory.
The British prime minister is threatened on various fronts. But the most serious comes from its own conservative coreligionists, who voted Wednesday night with a motion of internal censure, in order to get out of the party leadership.
It is necessary that 159 Conservative MPs vote against it to give up the leadership of the party and the government. But when he repels his critics, the prime minister gets a safe ride and can no longer be challenged for a year.
Protesters for and against the discussions on the Brexit during a demonstration [/ b] [/ b] [b] [b] [la citation nécessaire] In just over two years, May devotes the bulk of her efforts to leading the exit of the country from the European bloc by balancing it in successive elections. [Photo:HenryNicholls/Reuters
The Crises But her situation got much more complicated earlier this week when, when she realized she would be defeated in the British Parliament, she unexpectedly suspended the vote on the agreement. on Brexit with the EU.
The Prime Minister once went to The Hague, Berlin, and Brussels, in search of new EU concessions to the British, while the rebel wing of his party was articulated and received the 48 letters necessary to trigger the motion of mistrust towards their management.
However, demonstrations of support from European leaders in May did not cancel concrete actions. The EU refuses to renegotiate the agreement reached last month and does not abandon the maintenance of a free border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, main subject of contention with the British. To give in to the United Kingdom, on the other hand, means leaving the other 27 countries with the feeling that it is easy to leave the bloc.
The British Parliament is a reflection of the divided country, without majority support for Brexit without agreement, the most radical wing of the Conservatives, in favor of the May plan or a second referendum on the departure from the European bloc. Nobody is likely to predict the outcome of this imbroglio.
Beyond the Channel, four weeks of violent demonstrations, the longest recorded in 50 years in France, challenge Macron: The initial demand of rural residents against fuel tax increases has been trampled by other claims of a movement without clear direction, which also demands his resignation.
In 18 months of government, the French president is perceived as arrogant, distant and disconnected from part of the population. Faced with the wave of demonstrations that contaminated the main French cities, it has gradually been withdrawn. First, he postponed the six-month tax increase. Then for a year.
Last Monday, broke the silence and, in a contrite tone, made the mea culpa in a 13-minute national chain statement, raised the minimum wage by 100 euros and announced lower tax cuts – measures that will raise the ceiling of deficit and will not show enough to calm the morale.The president has set his ambitions in the service of the third I European economy.
In the external environment, just months before the elections to the European Parliament, a weakened Macron in his country also runs the risk of losing the leading position against the nationalist and populist camp represented by Hungarian President Viktor Orbán , and the president. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
The crises that humiliate Macron and May in France and the United Kingdom will certainly cross borders and have a decisive impact on the future of the European bloc.
Sandra Cohen – Photo: Art / G1