Emmanuel Macron announces a series of measures for “a stronger and fairer France”

During an introductory speech, in front of his entire government and numerous journalists gathered in the Elysée town hall, the President of the Republic outlined “the profound meaning” of this new phase of his action, after a year 2023 marked by the chaotic adoption of pension and immigration laws.

“I am convinced that we have all it takes to succeed” and that “we are not finished with our history of progress and that our children will live better tomorrow than we do today,” Macron assured.

While his new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, will not make his general policy statement before January 30, the head of state has distilled, well beyond the “major axes” announced by the Elysée, several measures regarding schools, the economy and security.

First axis: young people and school. Macron intends to regulate the use of screens “for our children”, based on an expert opinion he gathered last week. He also intends to “rebuild civic education”, the number of hours of which will be doubled, with one hour per week starting from fifth grade, and hopes “that theater will become a compulsory part of middle schools starting from the next school year”.

The president also intends to see the “single dress” tested for students in a hundred schools this year, with a view to a possible generalization in 2026. And he also wanted to restore school graduation ceremonies “from this year” middle school, “a republican rite of unity, pride and recognition”, he said, also saying in passing that he was “totally in favor” of the systematic learning of the Marseillaise in primary school.

All accompanied by a mea culpa on “equal opportunities”: “I must clearly recognize that after six and a half years (…), we have improved things but we have not changed them radically”. “The future of the children of the Republic is still too determined by the surname, the place where one is born, the environment to which one belongs”.

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“Birth leave”

Second topic addressed: safety. Ten “clearance” operations against drug trafficking will be carried out every week, “in all categories of cities”, in the desire to restore “order”.

He also added that he wanted to fight against “radical Islam”, in particular thanks to the law that allowed the “system of detached imams” to be put to an end from 1 January.

On the economic front, the president asked his government for measures to “earn a better life through work”. He also wants public employees to be paid more “based on merit”.

Macron also said he wanted the regularization of “a certain number of foreign doctors”.

The president also made announcements aimed at boosting the birth rate, with the creation of a six-month “birth leave” to replace parental leave, as well as the launch of a “major plan” to fight the “scourge” of infertility .

The press conference, expected to last approximately two hours, continued with questions and answers.

The president should certainly be questioned about the first steps of the new executive, appointed last week and already grappling with a controversy surrounding Education Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. In the Assembly on Tuesday, he reiterated his “apologies” to public school teachers after invoking “packages of hours not seriously replaced” to justify his children’s schooling in the private sector.

A press conference that had already aroused criticism from the opposition even before it took place. Emmanuel Macron “is imposing himself in homes, it is the return of the ORTF”, the former public broadcasting monopoly, the leader of the socialist senators Patrick Kanner joked on Tuesday.

“Audacity”

Outside of his re-election campaign, Emmanuel Macron took part in this long all-out press conference only once, on 25 April 2019, very often preferring direct exchanges with the French.

Ironically, at the end of the “yellow vest” crisis, it was already a question of giving new impetus to a battered first five-year mandate and of regaining momentum before the European elections.

On the eve of what he himself called his “meeting with the nation”, on Monday evening the president called on his troops to “maintain” their “unity” and to “mobilize” for the next European elections, at the beginning of June, around the Attal government.

“Audacity, audacity, audacity”, he insisted in front of the majority parliamentarians, setting the tone for this “second year” of the five-year period.

The presidential majority has emerged fractured from the debate over immigration law, and questions remain about the ability of Gabriel Attal, the Fifth Republic’s youngest prime minister, to impose his authority.

On Tuesday he promised in front of the deputies of his relative majority “to press the accelerator with strong measures”, but said he was “clear” regarding the “uncertain” economic context and the “tense” political context.

The left has already warned that it will present a motion of censure if the government does not seek the confidence of the National Assembly.

2024-01-16 20:16:00
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