Emmanuel Macron on BRINK: Furious Hollande warns ‘UNFAIR’ government could FAIL

The former left-wing head of state has repeatedly criticised his former protégé, who he has accused of narcissism and of deepening social equalities through rich-friendly tax cuts.

He said yesterday: “If this administration fails – and this is a likely scenario, because of the unfair decisions it makes, its excessive behaviour and the absence of tangible results – which party will be there to take on the democratic challenge? Who?

“This is the main question that will be put to all voters in the 2022 election.”

He warned the French have become increasingly frustrated by the lack of results achieved by his centrist government.

Relations between Mr Hollande and his former economy minister, who quit the Socialist government to launch his own run for office, sunk after Mr Macron won the presidential nicknamed dubbed by the French “a cold war”.

Asked to comment on the 40-year-old leader’s latest gaffe, made during an open-house event at the Elysée Palace just over a week ago, Mr Hollande warned Mr Macron against becoming “haughty and arrogant”.

He said: “You need to talk to the person you have in front of you, respond to their needs and not dish out advice that is relevant to you alone.

“You cannot just hurl the truth at someone if you are considerate, you will come across as convincing.

“If all you do is talk and think about yourself, you will come across as haughty and arrogant.”

Mr Macron came under fire last week after he told a 25-year-old man who said he had a diploma in gardening but was struggling to land a job that he could easily find him one “just by crossing the road”.

The young centrist asked if the gardener had tried the restaurant or hotel trade, to which the youth shook his head.

Mr Macron said: “If you’re keen and motivated, in the hotel trade, cafes, restaurants, the building trade even… there’s nowhere I go that people don’t tell me they’re looking to hire.”

His comments were quickly slammed as out of touch and disrespectful by the opposition and the French press.

This is not the first time that Mr Hollande has hit out at his one-time protégé.

France’s former leader has repeatedly accused Mr Macron of deepening social inequalities through tax cuts that help the wealthy and businesses, policy reforms that have earned the former investment banker the nickname “president of the rich,” a label he is finding impossible to shake off.

Mr Hollande has also warned Mr Macron against the “dangers of narcissism,” which he said was “a terrible illness everyone is at risk of catching”.

Despite his plummeting poll numbers – his popularity ratings are hovering around 30 per cent from above 60 per cent shortly after he was elected in May last year, according to Ifop – Mr Macron seems convinced that straight talk is what France needs to move forwards.