But the ambition is also infused with arrogance, critics say, a charge frequently leveled at Mr. Macron himself. Mr. Macron wants to end the hiring-for-life, early retirement and enhanced medical insurance that have contributed to a whopping deficit. When Mr. Macron’s transport minister, Élisabeth Borne recently defended her government in Parliament, Mr. Macron’s deputies applauded in unison. “You showed unequaled strength,” one of Mr. Macron’s deputies said, lavishing praise on the president’s handpicked prime minister, Edouard Philippe. “Of the part of solitude that it implies, and of the end of innocence that it announces,” Mr. Macron added loftily.

Source: New York Times March 22, 2018 17:19 UTC