French President Macron names right-wing PM, meets Merkel to plan austerity and war
By
Alex Lantier
16 May 2017
The day after his inauguration at the Elysée palace, French President Emmanuel Macron chose a right-wing graduate of the elite National Administration School (ENA) as prime minister, before flying to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The friendly meeting between Macron and Merkel in Berlin underscores that his installation in the Elysée is part of a social counterrevolution and surge of militarism spreading across Europe. Berlin, the champion of austerity, which in 2014 broke with seven decades of military restraint following the defeat of the Nazi regime and launched the remilitarization of its foreign policy, hailed Macron, a supporter of deep austerity and a return of the draft.
Macron plans to use the labor law of his predecessor François Hollande, rammed through the National Assembly without a vote in the face of mass protests and the opposition of 70 percent of the French people, to tear up contracts and social benefits by decree.
He began his joint press conference with Merkel by insisting that austerity was not being dictated to him by the European Union or Germany, but was the policy of his government. “The French agenda will be a reform agenda in the coming months, not because Europe is asking us, but because that is what France needs,” he said.
He proposed very close collaboration with Berlin to “work together on a common road map for the European Union and the euro zone.” He added, “These are subjects of the greatest importance… I will be a frank, direct and constructive partner because I think that the success of our two countries is intimately linked.”
Merkel sought to give the greatest possible support, in…