Why is Macron courting the Freemasons?

Emmanuel Macron turned this week to France’s shadowy Freemasons for support. In a speech delivered to the secretive Grande Loge de France, he asked for their help to defend the Republic’s core values, and urged them to stand up to extremes, by which he means Le Pen’s National Rally. Macron needs to stabilise the political centre, which he once comfortably occupied, but which is shrinking fast under pressure from the right.

That a sitting French president would attempt to enlist the Freemasons is astonishing. Normally shrouded in discretion, the group has never been publicly courted by any president. There have been numerous political scandals over the years linked to Freemasons, who have a history of manoeuvring behind the scenes.

Macron directly appealed to the Freemasons and asked them to serve as ‘ambassadors of fraternity’ and to actively promote secularism. The latter underpins Macron’s immigration policies, which seek to integrate newcomers by requiring adherence to secular and republican values through measures such as language training, civic education, and controversial restrictions on religious symbols in public institutions.