French President Emmanuel Macron is Europe’s “point man,” and in the absence of a formal German government, he is driving France’s vision of Europe amid war to its east and incoming tariffs across the Atlantic.
For years, Germany had been seen as the leading light of Europe — both politically and economically powerful, and with a figurehead in the form of Angela Merkel who was instantly recognizable on the continent and internationally.
Her retirement, a comparatively unstable successor government led by the center-left’s Olaf Scholz, and the difficult passage through the economic turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic, saw Germany’s European star dull.
Across the border, Emmanuel Macron — no stranger to his own domestic political battles — has emerged as Europe’s most important national leader amid the global shocks wrought by the second Trump administration and its hostile posture towards traditional European allies.
Changing face of European leadership
Germany is without a government, but is expected to return to a “Grand Coalition” led by Friedrich Merz and his center-right Union with a junior partner in the center-left Social Democrats.
But while these establishment parties thrash out the terms of their political alliance, Europe’s most powerful economy is stuck with a caretaker government during Donald Trump’s barrage of tariffs and the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
While Macron has always been among the world’s most recognizable national leaders, he has been particularly vocal amid current turmoil, and comfortably wears the hats of both French president and an ambassador for Europe.
“He has a European message and this message is coordinated, but in the end, he’s the President of France,” said Gesine Weber, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund specializing in European security.
“The two are, of course, interlinked because most European interests are also French interests and vice versa.”
As European leaders scope out increased defense spending and even concepts of unified defense, Macron has even gone as far as to put the expansion of France’s domestic nuclear shield back on the table, to the chagrin of Russia.
In other areas of foreign policy, Macron has been trying to advance European interests along French lines: “Europe has become very French over the last five years,” Weber points out.
After a slow start, Macron has put himself in the middle of advancing the continent’s interests on Ukraine and, now, in addressing tariffs.
His incumbency and pre-existing relationship with Donald Trump from the US President’s first term also uniquely position him to engage the United States.
“He was the first head-of-state or government among Europeans that was able to establish — or reestablish — a relationship with Trump,” says Weber.
