Macron is under pressure after parliamentary elections, Cornelia Woll says on German TV

On Berlin's rbb television, Hertie School President Cornelia Woll was the guest expert in the talk show "Thadeusz und die Beobachter" on 21 June, offering an assessment of French politics after the parliamentary election. Woll spoke about the French voters' Politikverdrossenheit, the shift in voting to the benefit of the far right and the outlook for Macron's political future.

"At the European level, he has not reached his zenith yet, but in domestic politics, yes," she said. "It is very, very difficult in the second presidential mandate to build the kind of majorities that one needs to make things happen. ...The question is, what does this mean for Europe? And here I would like to be cautiously optimistic. Foreign policy is the area where the French president is in his comfort zone, and here he has the power to do things without consulting other parties. He can still shine on the international stage, while at home he will no longer be able to achieve much. It will be very difficult to reform the country as he had planned; he will not be able to reduce debt – which was one of his big goals; he will not be able to forge compromises in many other areas. The only area where he can push forward is foreign policy, and I would not assume that his role in Europe will become weaker."

Watch the full talk show in German here.