France’s increasingly unpopular president, Emmanuel Macron, has suffered a further blow after an MP quit his party, saying she felt as if she was “on the Titanic”.
Frédérique Dumas resigned from Mr Macron’s centrist Republic on the Move party because she said the government had “forgotten the fundamental principles of Macronism”. She added: “Some decisions come down to budget cuts. There is no ambition, no direction.”
The move by Ms Dumas, 55, a former film producer, reflects growing disillusionment with the president and impatience that his controversial and often painful economic reforms have so far failed to cut unemployment or significantly boost growth.
Sixteen months after he was elected, Mr Macron is more unpopular than any recent president at the same point in office, with an approval rating of just 19 per cent, according to a new opinion poll. He is struggling to restore his reputation, tarnished by his handling of a scandal over a security aide filmed beating up protesters, accusations of cronyism and cabinet confusion.
“You have the feeling that you’re on the Titanic,” Ms Dumas complained. She called for an “electric shock” to galvanise the government, accusing party leaders of failing to listen to MPs. Expressing any view other than the party line is seen as an “act of rebellion” rather than a basis for discussion, she said, stressing that she still hoped Mr Macron would succeed.
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Ms Dumas said she would join a centre-Right parliamentary group formed by a small centrist party, the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), and a new party, Agir (Act).
Agir has been launched by nine MPs who quit the main opposition conservative party, The Republicans, because they opposed its shift further to the Right under the leadership of Laurent Wauquiez, a hardliner.
Franck Riester, head of the joint Agir-UDI parliamentary group, said it would defend the EU and liberal values. “We will not let populists steal the Right.”
The new centre-Right party has the “blessing” of Alain Juppé, the popular mayor of Bordeaux and former prime minister seen by many voters as an elder statesman, although he has not joined it. Mr Juppé distanced himself from The Republicans after the eurosceptic Mr Wauquiez became leader. Many of the party’s former MPs have joined forces with Mr Macron, including the prime minister, Edouard Philippe, a protégé of Mr Juppé.
With France’s other main party, the Socialists, also in disarray, the most vocal opposition to Mr Macron now comes from the far-Left, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and the far-Right, led by Marine Le Pen. Her National Rally, formerly the National Front, is neck-and-neck with Mr Macron’s party in voting intentions for next year’s European Parliament elections, on 21 per cent.
The National Rally is predicted to come first in the May vote despite allegations that it misused European Parliament funds and the freezing of €2 million of its funds by French authorities. Fears are growing in Brussels that anti-immigration parties across Europe will form a strong bloc in the parliament.