7 - “Whatever It Costs”

Summary

Chapter 7 describes Macron’s statist response to the COVID-19 crisis. Macron’s statist turn, like that of Sarkozy in response to the 2008 financial crisis, went well beyond the imperatives of crisis management. Indeed, Macron embraced a statist-protective mission, symbolized by his pledge to spend “whatever it costs” to protect the French. Chapter 7 illustrates Macron’s shift through four sets of actions: (1) the projection of state power and spending in public health; (2) the creation of expensive new programs to keep French businesses afloat during the crisis and direct their strategies over the long term; (3) a recommitment to social anesthesia policies, including policies that Macron had sought to eliminate; (4) a dramatic increase in public spending, deficits, and debt. Chapter 7 also describes Macron’s illiberal response to a more recent crisis, the surge in energy costs beginning in fall 2021, which prompted him to freeze natural gas and electricity rates, launch a €50-billion plan to build a new generation of nuclear reactors, and renationalize the country’s main electricity operator. Finally, Chapter 7 discusses the ways in which the contestation of liberalization shaped the 2022 elections, both Macron’s reelection as president and his surprising setback in the ensuing legislative elections.