Throughout his stay in India, Emmanuel Macron had refrained from commenting on the political situation in France, where the death of far-right activist Quentin Deranque had inflamed public debate. The president waited until Thursday, February 19, the day of his return flight, to urge the “extremist parties” to “clean house,” specifying “the far left in this case,” but also “the far right, which sometimes has activists in its ranks who justify violence.” He argued that, in France, there is “no place for movements that adopt and legitimize violence,” and “nothing can ever justify violent action, from any quarter.” Addressing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who described the deadly assault as “a wound for the whole of Europe,” the president bluntly advised her to stop “commenting on what is happening in other countries.”

Until then, Macron had kept his distance from the political turmoil in France and used his fourth official visit to India since 2018 to cultivate his popularity on the subcontinent. Between his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 16, and the opening session of the AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19, he alternated between social gatherings, sightseeing – including a visit to a Sikh temple – and charm offensives targeting Indians. On that front, the French president invited Indian students to come to France in greater numbers, with an argument that drew smiles from the audience at the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences: “In France, the cost of studies is largely less expensive than in a lot of other countries,” he declared. “It’s not a sign that it’s bad quality!”

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