I lived in France 20 years ago for a year, and 30 years before that I lived there for four months. The French are definitely different from other Europeans. They do believe in their tradition of not accepting the rules if they disagree with them. It is almost a cliche that they will demonstrate and possibly set fire to dustbins, and at times even throw Molotov cocktails if they are driven to it.
Macron, who sees himself as a moderniser like Thatcher, has run into the biggest problem: the French believe in a quality of
