The reopening of Notre Dame comes at a difficult political moment for the Elysee tenant, just days after the collapse of the Barnier government. Given the turmoil in Elise, analysts are wondering if the reopening of the cathedral can “save” the French president and even compare this event to the Olympics, which also gave the French capital a lot of glamour.

At a time when more than a few people are calling out Macron for the political chaos in which France is swirling and the voices calling for his resignation are growing, an event is coming to “light up” Paris, the city that had recently been plunged into a darkness of political and social crises, with the New York Times calling it a miracle story, writing about the inauguration of Notre Dame de Paris.

For Macron, tomorrow’s official reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in the presence of world leaders was expected to be a major event in his second and final term in office.

Few had believed it was possible to rebuild the 860-year-old monument in the short time frame Macron announced the day after the 2019 disaster, the New York Times reported.

Yet an important question that arises is whether this historic moment can stem the tide of discontent that is hitting Macron…

“I don’t see what can happen for the country to recover again,” says Vincent Martini, a political science professor at the University of Nice, on the Côte d’Azur.

After his party’s Waterloo in the European elections last June, the country was pushed to early elections in order to achieve political stability.

After the ballot result, however, a split parliament emerged, divided into three camps, which in advance seemed to act as a barrier to the smooth passage of bills.

“Macron denies reality”

“Macron is a victim of his narcissism,” says for his part Alain Mink, a political commentator and decades-long adviser to French presidents. “He is simply denying reality.”

The result was a vote of no confidence by rival MPs on Wednesday to overturn the government of Macron’s prime minister Michel Barnier, just three months into its term. Barnier’s government was the shortest-lived in the history of France’s Fifth Republic, formed in 1958.

Barnier will remain caretaker prime minister for the time being, Elysee announced yesterday. However, Macron is under intense pressure to appoint a new prime minister who could offer his country some stability as soon as possible.

However, whoever he chooses, few believe a new government will be able to survive. Macron’s second and final term ends in 2027, and in his address yesterday, he was quick to make clear that he would not step down.

However, it is understandable that Macron is a wounded president. He was elected in 2017 as France’s youngest president, at just 39 years old.

Macron pledged to his fellow citizens to bring a new, centrist approach and business-friendly policies to the country.

His highly personality-centric – as the NYT reports – administration has irritated many as his party, which initially held a strong majority, has nevertheless become the target of critical comments.

In the 2022 parliamentary elections, Macron’s party and its allies lost many seats, winning a relative majority. Subsequently, last summer, after early elections, they were further weakened.

This forced Macron to appoint a prime minister from the main conservative party, not his own, setting up a fragile coalition between his allies and the traditional right-wing Republican Party.

Although Barnier claimed he had daily contact, he also made it clear that it was his proposal for a temporary tax on big business and tycoons, striking a blow to Macron’s business friends.

“Our Lady of Paris is not enough to save him”

Constitutionally, the Fifth French Republic envisages a strong president leading a strong majority in parliament, argued Coppé, the former Republican minister who is now mayor of Mo.

Without that, and with compromise in French politics seen as a weakness, deadlocks become inevitable, he argued.

“There is no alternative but for Macron to resign,” Coupe said.

“If not glory, the reopening of Notre Dame de Paris should at least give Macron a brief respite. He has called the moment of inauguration, like last summer’s Olympics, “a message of hope.”

“But the Olympics, like all glory, are short-lived. The reopening of a cathedral is not enough to save it… It will take a miracle,” said political analyst Martini.