It’s back to school for the executive. After a summer break disrupted in particular by unprecedented fires in France and deadly thunderstorms in Corsica, Emmanuel Macron and his Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, will dine together on Tuesday August 23 at the Elysée Palace to take stock of the (many) hot issues awaiting the government in the coming weeks. The first Council of Ministers will be held on Wednesday.
The President of the Republic is preparing for a turbulent return, with the French overtaken by the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine and a political opposition in ambush. “The executive is facing considerable challenges: on the geopolitical level with the war in Ukraine, on the energy level with potential restrictions this winter, and climate issues very present throughout the summer, lists the political scientist Bruno Cautrès. And then, to make it all worse, economic issues with the question of inflation and purchasing power.
Relative majority in Parliament obliges, to meet all these challenges, the Head of State intends to change his method. The government plans to consult more and to propose shorter legal texts to allow parliamentarians to work on them upstream, in order to avoid the hiccups it experienced in the Assembly in July. To embody his change of method, Emmanuel Macron is also relying on the National Council for Refoundation (CNR), which must bring together “the political, economic, social, associative forces, of the elected representatives of the territories and of citizens drawn by lot”according to the head of state.
Franceinfo takes stock of the hot topics awaiting the executive for the start of the school year.
The vote on the 2023 budget
Despite its promises to change the method, the government is already anticipating a forced passage, with possible recourse to article 49.3, to have the 2023 finance bill adopted, for lack of an absolute majority for the macronists in the Assembly. Traditionally, the oppositions vote against to express their disagreement with government policy.
“The examination of a budget always has a symbolic meaning”, summed up with World former Budget Minister Eric Woerth, now a Renaissance deputy. “It is the fundamental text where the majority and the opposition freeze.” “Given the symbolic importance of the vote on the budget, it is not certain that LR is ready to negotiate as they did on purchasing power”, explains for his part to the evening daily Olivier Rozenberg, professor at the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics of Sciences Po.
Pension and unemployment insurance reforms
The pension reform promises to crystallize tensions, both on the side of the oppositions and the unions. The proposal made by Emmanuel Macron during the presidential campaign plans to postpone the legal retirement age to 65, with a system of long and arduous careers. The Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, nevertheless promised to consult the unions just after the first meeting of the National Council for Refoundation.
Another explosive file, that of unemployment insurance. The new reform announced promises to tighten the conditions of access. Conditioning of the RSA to 15 or 20 hours of weekly activity, already tested in Dijon and Alsace, is also planned. “We can move towards full employment but we must continue to carry out the essential reforms”Hammered Emmanuel Macron.
If the left-wing opposition already plans to firmly oppose these texts, the government could find the support of the Republicans, historical supporters of “working more”. This will not prevent unions and political organizations from taking to the streets. The CGT is already planning an interprofessional strike day focused on purchasing power, wages and pension reform, on September 29.
Energy sovereignty in the face of inflation
Winter promises to be difficult. All of Europe will continue to suffer the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, starting with the increase in the prices of petrol, gas and electricity. On August 19, on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Bormes-les-Mimosas (Var), Emmanuel Macron asked the French “to agree to pay the price for our freedom and our values”.
In other words: sacrifices will have to be made. Especially since inflation is still there. If the purchasing power package has made it possible to support the household purse, it is necessary “to work for our energy sovereignty, to support the French, our companies in the context of this war”explained the Head of State from the Var.
The climate emergency, after a remarkable summer
Huge fires, repeated heat waves and a historic drought, with municipalities deprived of drinking water and dramatic consequences for agriculture… The executive cannot ignore the climate emergency in this comeback.
After a three-day trip to Algeria, from August 25 to 27, the President of the Republic will organize a government seminar at the end of August devoted in particular to ecology. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, must also pronounce a “strong discourse on energy sobriety and transition” during the Medef summer university. The Head of State asked him to “submit in the fall an ecological planning agenda broken down by month and year”, specifies the Elysée. Emmanuel Macron will also make a trip dedicated to offshore wind turbines in early September.
Finally, on the parliamentary agenda, a bill to accelerate renewable energies. The government wants to have it adopted in the fall to catch up with France’s delay in wind and solar power.
Safety, another back-to-school priority
The government could convince Les Républicains with its orientation and programming bill from the Ministry of the Interior (Lopmi). After several miscellaneous events, including a gunshot after an urban rodeo and a death and a serious injury during a refusal to comply in Vénissieux (Rhône), the theme of security has returned to public debate. The text should make it possible to grant an additional 15 billion euros in budget over five years and will be examined in October in Parliament. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, very present in the media, was on the other hand summoned by the Elysée and Matignon to postpone his bill on immigration. It is scheduled for December, after the organization of a “big debate” in Parliament, as announced by the minister in early August.