Macron's legacy evaporates as France's woes mount

In a 2018 interview with Fox News ahead of his first state visit to the United States, a fresh-faced President Emmanuel Macron was asked whether he might back down on reforms amid fierce domestic opposition.

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US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands at a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Oct 13.

"No. Chance," Macron replied, separating each word for emphasis. Fast forward to 2025: a politically cornered Mr Macron, under siege from a resurgent parliamentary opposition, has been forced to shelve the only major economic reform of his second term — a totemic pension overhaul pushed through at great political cost.

For months, as France faced its worst political crisis in decades, Mr Macron rejected leftist demands to shelve the reform. His painful concession, delaying the reform until after the 2027 presidential election, was made as a last-ditch attempt to prevent the collapse of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's weak minority government. It underlines the gravity of the problems facing a deeply unpopular president polling at just 14%.

It also marks the collapse of Mr Macron's reformist push to modernise France — and perhaps even the end of Macronism itself, nearly two years before he is due to step down.