Not many Americans remember this, but back in 2003, the German economy was stuck in the mud, and there were even suggestions that Germany was the “sick man of Europe.” Gerhard Schroder responded with Agenda 2010, a pro-business reform program that trimmed the welfare state and reduced labor regulations. The program split the SPD (it has never really recovered) and probably increased inequality, but, along with the vast demand for German products in China, it ushered in a new era of prosperity. Today, the German economy is the envy of all other nations in Europe.
France didn’t have an Agenda 2010. While the French economy has grown somewhat, and came out of the Great Recession in better shape than many other European countries, France has fallen behind the Germans, and is no longer taken seriously as an equal partner in the EU. It is not a surprise, however, that Macron’s platform sounds a bit like Agenda 2010. What is likely to happen to it?
Macron starts with some advantages; for one thing, he won’t have to force a right-wing program down the throat of a Socialist Party. It will be very important for him to portray the program as a means to regain equal status with the Germans; if it appears that he is just doing Merkel’s bidding, the program will be dead on arrival.