Macron Criticised Over Holiday Photos Amid France's Wildfires
French President Emmanuel Macron has come under fire after photos of him riding a jet ski while on holiday on the Riviera coast became the cover of a magazine. The opposition accused Macron of being insensitive to the French people who are struggling with extreme heatwaves and wildfires.
Criticism rained down on the 48-year-old president, as reported by AFP on Saturday (15/8/2026), after Paris Match magazine featured Macron riding a jet ski on the Riviera as its main cover image this week.
Wearing a life jacket that showed off his arm muscles, Macron appeared sporty while holidaying at Fort de Bregancon, the official presidential retreat, during this month’s summer holiday period.
“The last summer in charge,” read the cover headline of Paris Match, referring to Macron’s plan to leave the Elysee Palace next year when his second, and final, term ends.
The magazine also published photos of Macron doing water sports such as foil surfing, amid a summer marked by successive heatwaves and deadly wildfires in France.
Responding to the criticism, a French presidential staff member said the photos of Macron were taken without permission.
“Photos of the president taken without permission appear every year for the past nine years,” said the presidential staff member, who declined to be named.
Opposition strongly criticised Macron’s holiday. The photos sparked sharp criticism from the French left-wing opposition. One of them came from Green Party leader Marine Tondelier, who said the French people were experiencing an “apocalyptic summer” while “our president is enjoying promotional coverage of his holiday”.
Tondelier compared the photo of Macron on the magazine cover to “deaths from five heatwaves, drought, and severe wildfires”.
Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure argued that Macron had sent the wrong message.
“Amid the heatwave, when France is hit by fires and many French people cannot go on holiday, the president is having fun jet skiing in Bregancon,” Faure said in his criticism of Macron.
Communist Party senator Pierre Ouzoulias criticised Macron’s holiday photos as “inappropriate”. He said he would rather see Macron “on a fire engine, helping firefighters put out the flames”.
“That is where he should be,” Ouzoulias said. “After the summer we have had, showing the president on holiday, in my view, does not match the level of concern felt by the wider public,” he said.
In its feature, Paris Match described Macron’s holiday as “work-focused”, while emphasising that an office had been prepared and “the president spends his days making phone calls”.