“French Connection: Trump Meets Macron Amid Political Turmoil”

The downfall of France’s prime minister has delivered a significant political blow to French President Emmanuel Macron, mere days before a high-profile visit from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. With one president emerging on the global stage, the question looms: are the other’s political days numbered?

France has been thrown into turmoil following an unprecedented crisis, as the government suffered the humiliation of losing a no-confidence vote—the first such defeat in over 60 years. Could this political earthquake, marked by Michel Barnier’s fall, accelerate Emmanuel Macron’s own political decline and possibly spark financial instability in the Eurozone’s second-largest economy?

In this tense political atmosphere, POLITICO’s Anne McElvoy delves into the implications of this dramatic week in Paris and its effects on France’s relationships with Europe and the U.S. She is joined by Marion Solletty, POLITICO’s executive editor in France, and Alexandre Kouchner, a political analyst and lecturer at Sciences Po, to analyze the unfolding crisis and its broader consequences.