Governing in an Age of Permanent Emergency
Emmanuel Macron’s presidency has unfolded against a backdrop of overlapping crises: terrorism, global pandemics, and large‑scale wars on Europe’s doorstep. Each forced him to balance security with liberty, and national interest with fragile alliances.
Terrorism and a New Security Law
When Macron took office, France was still living under a state of emergency declared after the 2015 terror attacks. In 2017, his government moved to end the emergency—but not to return to the pre‑attack status quo.
A controversial anti‑terror law folded many emergency powers into ordinary legislation. Authorities gained expanded rights to search homes, restrict movement, close places of worship, and secure areas around stations and ports.
Human rights groups warned of creeping authoritarianism; a majority of the public, wary after years of attacks and plots, backed the measures. Macron defended the law as a necessary shield, with its harshest provisions subject to periodic review.
COVID‑19: From Lockdown to Vaccine Rollout
The coronavirus pandemic that erupted in 2020 was a test of a different kind. Macron ordered nationwide lockdowns and pulled his contentious pension reform bill as the country shut down.
His government managed the vaccination rollout and responses to the recession that followed, while also shepherding France out of its “state of health emergency” in his second term. Early anger over restrictions gave way, for a time, to a rise in his approval ratings as many rallied around the flag in the face of the virus.
Fighting ISIS and Redrawing the Middle Eastern Chessboard
Abroad, Macron continued France’s role in the war against the Islamic State through Opération Chammal. He warned that France remained “in a state of war” with jihadist groups.
He authorized airstrikes against Syrian government targets in 2018, coordinated with the US and UK, after chemical weapons were used in Douma. In the broader Middle East, he condemned Hamas’s attacks in 2023, affirmed Israel’s right to self‑defense, then later called for a ceasefire and criticized heavy civilian casualties in Gaza.
Russia’s War in Ukraine
Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 brought war back to Europe in a way unseen for generations. Macron tried a dual approach: intense diplomacy with Vladimir Putin before and after the invasion, and strong support for Kyiv once war broke out.
He visited Ukraine with Germany’s Olaf Scholz and Italy’s Mario Draghi to display unity. France sent weapons and ammunition, later pledging long‑range SCALP missiles and permitting their use against certain targets on Russian soil.
Over time his language hardened, describing Russia’s actions as “imperialism and colonialism” and, by 2025, branding Russia an “existential threat” to Europe.
Walking the Tightrope
From domestic anti‑terror laws to pandemic decrees and wartime diplomacy, Macron has repeatedly pushed the frontiers of executive power in the name of security.
Supporters say he steered France through an era of global turbulence with a steady hand; critics warn of normalized exceptional measures. Either way, his time in office shows what happens when a president elected on reform and optimism is forced, again and again, to govern in crisis mode.