Paris. A lavish series of banquets hosted by President Emmanuel Macron has ignited a firestorm on the radical left. The centrist leader, already under pressure over pension reforms, is accused of “feasting while France starves.”
This is pure class war theatre. And the left is winning the optics war.
Macron’s dinners, held at the Élysée Palace and other grand venues, feature Michelin-star chefs, rare wines and a guest list of billionaires and oligarchs. The first banquet, last week, cost €400,000. A second, scheduled for next month, is said to top €1 million.
“This is the return of Marie Antoinette,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise. “Let them eat wagyu beef.”
Behind the outrage, there is a deeper game. Mélenchon’s party has been losing momentum. The banquet scandal is a gift. It allows him to paint Macron as an out-of-touch elitist. The narrative writes itself.
Inside the Élysée, aides are scrambling. They point out that Macron has hosted similar events before, usually to woo foreign investors. The cost, they argue, is offset by the business secured. But this argument is falling flat.
Polling data from Ifop shows a sharp uptick in approval for Mélenchon among under-30s. The “banquet tax” is also a rallying cry for the gilets jaunes, who have been quiet since the pandemic. Expect protests in the coming days.
Macron’s camp is split. Some advisors urge him to cancel the second banquet. Others say it would be a sign of weakness. “We cannot let the mob dictate how we conduct diplomacy,” a senior Élysée official told me. But the mob is not just a mob. It is 30% of the electorate.
The real target is the French working class, which has historically voted left. Macron stole much of that vote in 2017, but it is slipping back. These banquets are a hammer to his own base.
Meanwhile, the right is watching with amusement. Marine Le Pen has called for an inquiry into state spending. She knows this hurts Macron more than her.
The symbolism is brutal. In a country where the guillotine was invented for a king who hoarded grain, this is dangerous ground. Macron is no Louis XVI, but the imagery of excess in a time of inflation and energy crisis is politically deadly.
Backbench rebels in Macron’s own party are grumbling. One deputy told me: “We are defending a president who spends like a sultan while our constituents can’t pay their heating bills.” That is not a sustainable position.
The second banquet is set to be held at the Palace of Versailles. The location is tone-deaf. Versailles is where the French Revolution began. The irony is not lost on anyone.
Expect Macron to announce a “solidarity surtax” on the event. But it will be too late. The damage is done. The left has its symbol. And in politics, symbols can topple governments.
