Left-leaning newspaper Liberation described the snap election call as an "extreme gamble," while the center-right Le Figaro ran a brief headline Monday: "Le choc" ("shock").
That happened well before the humiliation of the European election results, in which Macron's Renaissance party got less than half as many votes as the far-right Rassemblement National ...
In the meantime, other commentators and newspapers, such as Les Echos, have characterized Macron's move as a game of poker.
Macron's supporters defend the president as a self-made and ambitious man who has a direct way of speaking to voters.
"First, he has interpreted the vote for the European Parliament as a personal insult, as a rejection of his domestic policy direction.
Persons:
Emmanuel Macron, Xi Jinping, Ursula von der Leyen, Gonzalo Fuentes, Emmanuel Macron's, Macron, drubbing, Jordan Bardella, Le Figaro, Alexis Brézet, Fenoglio, Macron's, it's, Robert Ladrech, Chirac
Organizations:
Reuters, Macron's Renaissance Party, National Assembly, Le Monde, CNBC, Keele University
Locations:
Paris, France, what's, EU