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Macron can bless his lucky stars, again, as 'Les Bleus' win World Cup

Ersin Çelik
12:09 - 16/07/2018 الإثنين
Update: 12:56 - 16/07/2018 الإثنين
REUTERS
File photo
File photo

Lucky General

Macron's lieutenants have sought to play down any suggestion that politics and soccer are linked. They don't want the president to be accused of leveraging the World Cup, even if Macron and his wife were in Moscow to watch the final.

"We have nothing to do with it, but let's rejoice," Macron told his ministers last week, after France beat Belgium in the semi-final, according to spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.

That said, Macron can expect Sunday's euphoria to unleash a wave of renewed self-confidence and national pride, while perhaps enhancing France's reputation internationally.

For the young president, it's somewhat akin to what Napoleon Bonaparte is supposed to have said of his military commanders: never mind their skill, "give me lucky generals".

"You have to be very cautious about a political effect, but maybe there will be a moral effect that will last through the summer," Frederic Dabi of Ifop told Reuters. "I see more of an effect on the image of France abroad, it gives a cumulative effect, it reinforces the Macron chorus of 'France is back'."


Domestically, the nation could do with a 'feel-good' lift.

After years of high unemployment, economic stagnation and a string of deadly Islamist attacks since 2015, the World Cup win may help the nation feel the worst is behind it. That may also help sweeten the pill that the government is shortly to unveil, with unpopular spending cuts due after the summer.

"The second half of the year will be a bit complicated," Ludovic Subran, head of research at Allianz, told Reuters.

"Spending power is down and those French who are not entrepreneurs are complaining. Macron needed this victory."

According to Subran's research, the World Cup will boost French consumption by 0.2 percentage points this year, which in turn will give wider economic growth a 0.1 point lift.

That might be just enough to help Macron sing along to the tune of the French team's 1998 anthem: "I Will Survive".

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