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The impassioned speech of the French President Emmanuel Macron to declare the formation of a coalition of 33 countries for a moratorium on deep sea mining was an international necessity. The action has raised a flurry of controversy from various sides, making issues such as French nationals detained in Israel and matters of domestic security less convenient to be reached upon.
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Contrastingly, there’s been havoc unleashed on his social media feeds for commenting about ocean ecosystems. “The deep seas are not for sale,” Macron said passionately, wearing his environmental hat. “We’re talking about common heritage that engages us all.” He went ahead to talk about possible unknown threats for deep sea biodiversity, and disturbing the irrecoverable carbon stores before proper exploration has taken place.
The responses of the online people relate rather differently about that: something about Macron’s position as an environmental protector with the perception of his leadership. “One has to ask what have you actually done besides casting,” questioned a critic bluntly. Someone else mocked Macron’s certainty about ocean matters: “Incapable of managing even a fountain, but now the world’s oceans?”
Such disparity has been brought into sharp focus especially in the issue of six French citizens in Israel, reported to be detained: “Your silence is unacceptable,” charged one commentator; while another insisted, “What is France doing Mr President?” One sees a tightrope Macron balances in advocating global environmental prerogatives but being noted as having neglected immediate citizen welfare.
Some darker reactions dubbed Monsieur Macron the “biggest fraud in the history of French presidents,” followed by a slew of personal insults. But beneath all the acrimony, the real issue is about priorities. “Security of French citizens in the streets should come first,” one comment read-a living testimony to how these lofty environmental goals have become empty rhetoric to those whose immediate consciousness is filled with more established chunks of everyday safety.
Such an argument, therefore, leads into the moratorium on the deep sea mining: a chance that Macron seeks in regard to putting France in the environmental leadership position. He ran roughshod over this idea by saying: “It’s obscurantism to exploit before we’ve begun proper exploration.” Plans to have his coalition prohibit commercial activities in the deep seas until such time when knowledge in science is equal to interests in economic matters or vice versa.
Critics, on the other hand, were quick to point out the hypocrisy of this citing French fishing activities. “Everyday it’s French/Western ships pillaging oceans,” intoned one African observer, implying that there is no congruency between Macron’s pronouncements and what his country actually practices. This analysis is reflected in the resentment-that people do not believe whether or not Macron’s talk about the environment ever translates into real action.
While this backlash definitely reveals a leader struggling to manage international aspirations toward domestic expectations, what it does do is provide, at the international level, a platform for ocean conservation promoted by Macron. The moratorium, to many citizens, may as well be the only environmental policy that will really work; yet to others, it is just another example of what they see as Macron putting while his heart is on these overseas topics, whilst his people are left behind. These protests and criticisms wrapping around the scene could just drown out loud cries about deep sea mining alongside security concerns of hostage situations abroad.
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This particular incident is a touchstone in the much bigger problem that Macron has: balancing the credibility of being a global statesman versus that of a very efficient national leader. His environmental rhetoric-commendable in all respects-becomes more and more at odds with the public perception of his administration’s day-to-day priorities. One critic succinctly summed up the situation: “You pretend not to understand…it’s cowardice and electioneering.” Hence the successful deep sea mining moratorium will have to wait the fallout in French public opinion that Macron should tend to first.
This story originally appeared on Celebrityinsider
