Isolated at home and alienating allies abroad, French President Emmanuel Macron marks 12 months since his re-election on Monday, pursued by pot-bashing protesters and desperate for new ideas to re-launch his second term.
Having imposed pension reform on a broadly hostile electorate, provoking three months of nationwide strikes and protests, Emmanuel Macron is now hoping to turn the page and re-launch his political programme for the final four years of his presidency.
In a national address last week, Macron promised to produce a fresh agenda before the summer holidays, saying "we have 100 days in front of us of calming down, of unity, of ambition and action in the service of France."
Since then, he has made two trips to rural France, for face-to-face discussions with disgruntled voters. The French leader was booed and heckled on both occasions. People banged pots and pans in protest wherever he appeared.
Members of the presidential team hoped voters would at least credit Macron with personal courage and that the public confrontations might release some of the pent-up frustration over the pension changes, which were opposed by two-thirds of the country.
One voter in four approves of Macron
According to a poll published last Thursday by Odoxa-Backbone Consulting, fifty-nine percent of people think it is wrong to attempt to move on from the issue of pensions, and only 22 percent were convinced by Macron's televised speech last Monday evening.
The president's overall popularity ratings are hovering at near record lows, with only one voter in four having a positive view of him.
Macron's margin for political manoeuvre is limited, since his party lost its overall parliamentary majority in elections last June.
Prediction of political stagnation
Macron has made few new foreign friends since becoming the first French president in 20 years to win a second term.
Following a recent visit ti China, Macron insisted that Europe should not be a "follower" of the United States, adding that the EU should avoid "crises that aren't ours", referring to the possibility of a conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan.
Distancing himself from Washington at a time when the United States is delivering the bulk of military aid to Ukraine caused instant unease across Europe, particularly in Baltic and eastern European states such as Poland.
Pitching the idea of an independent Europe "when the US is basically saving your skin was always going to backfire", Joseph de Weck, an author of a biography of Macron, told the AFP news agency.
"Macron is good on strategy and long-term thinking. He's often terrible on tactics and communications," he added.
Germany's defence minister called the Taiwan comments "unfortunate", another indication of the rocky Franco-German relationship that has dismayed the French leader.
Foreign policy has traditionally been an area where French presidents, when stymied at home, have invested their energy.
De Weck sees Macron as unlikely to make any major domestic policy changes.
"The protests will die down, I'm pretty sure of that," he said. "But regaining the confidence of the French people looks very unlikely. We'll have a lot of stagnation in politics over the next few years."
The next presidential election in France is scheduled for 2027.
