Macron Isn’t So Post-Colonial After All

National sovereignty is one thing. Monetary sovereignty is another.

Emmanuel Macron is the first French president born after the end of colonialism, and in many ways, he personifies this generational break through his forward-looking approach to Africa. In 2017, he famously called French colonialism “truly barbarous” and a “crime against humanity” while on a visit to Algeria. Yet, he has done little to abolish the most enduring vestige of French colonialism: Paris’s continued monetary control over 14 sub-Saharan African countries.