Macron jet ski photos spark political firestorm as France battles heatwaves and wildfires

Photos spark backlash

Paris Match published a photo reportage showing President Emmanuel Macron riding a jet ski and practicing other water sports at the Fort de Brégançon, his presidential residence on a small peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea, part of the commune of Bormes-les-Mimosas on the French Riviera. The 17th-century fort has served as the official presidential retreat since 1968 and has been publicly accessible since 2013. The images also show Macron doing foil surfing, running, and boxing. The accompanying article describes his holidays as "studious," with an office set up at the fort and the president spending his days on the phone. Macron's entourage said the photographer had no authorized access and that "stolen photos of the president" have been published every year for nine years since he took office.

Political criticism from left and right

Marine Tondelier, leader of the Ecologist party and presidential candidate, mocked the photos on X on Friday, contrasting the magazine cover with what she described as an "apocalyptic summer" of deaths from heatwaves, drought, and fires. Sources differ on the details she cited: 20 minutos reports her referencing "thousands of dead" from three heatwaves, while RFI and Ouest France report five heatwaves without specifying a number of deaths.

Emmanuel Macron: "Have you seen my huge jet ski, how fast it goes?"

Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, wrote on X that while France burns and part of the French could not go on vacation, the president amuses himself on a jet ski at Brégançon.

Is that the message? What a success.

Luc Broussy, chairman of the Socialist Party's national council, called the front-page appearance "completely inappropriate" given a summer in which firefighters face deadly forest fires and elderly and low-income people suffer from the heatwave. He added that he was "a bit ashamed of my country." RFI and Ouest France noted that Faure did not comment on another photo in the same Paris Match issue showing his ally Raphaël Glucksmann kissing partner Léa Salamé on a Corsica beach. Glucksmann is expected to confirm after the summer recess whether he will run for the presidency.

Communist and far-right reactions

Communist senator Pierre Ouzoulias told Europe 1 radio that the images were out of step with public concern.

This is politics as I don't like it.

He said he would have preferred to see Macron "on a fire truck helping firefighters put out fires. That would have been his place," and added that after the summer the country has had, showing the president on vacation does not reflect the level of public concern, which is widespread. From the far right, National Rally deputy Edwige Diaz, representing Gironde, called the photos "clumsy" but said everyone has the right to go on vacation and that there are "more important matters." She told Franceinfo she wants Emmanuel Macron to be effective throughout the year.

France under heat and fire

France is currently experiencing its fifth heatwave of the year, with temperatures between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius expected on Friday across many locations. Fifty-seven departments are under orange alert and four departments (Indre, Indre-et-Loire, Mayenne, and Deux-Sèvres) are under red alert for heat. A forest fire broke out Thursday in the Landes department in southwestern France, spreading overnight to destroy approximately 1,100 hectares. In late July, fires across the departments of Gironde, Landes, and Lot-et-Garonne destroyed about 42,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of 220,000 people, with firefighters bringing the blazes under control after ten days.