For his last wishes at the Elysee Palace, Friday December 31, Emmanuel Macron did not depart from his propensity to present things “at the same time”: on the one hand, the head of state painted a grim picture of the current health situation in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic. With the progression of the Omicron variant, largely responsible for the 232,000 contaminations recorded on Friday, “the coming weeks will be difficult” and “many of our activities will be disorganized”, he said.
The other, “optimistic” for 2022, the President of the Republic stressed that there was “real reasons to hope” thanks to the vaccine and that “2022 could be the year of the end of the epidemic”. Thanks to the vaccine, “so we can overcome this wave”, he added, promising to “do everything to preserve the activity of the country” and “avoid taking restrictions that weigh on our freedom”.
According to Emmanuel Macron, “France, despite the hardships, is stronger today than two years ago”, in particular because, in his view, of the reforms carried out since 2017. With the pandemic, “where we could have postponed everything, we have never given up our collective ambition”, said the head of state. “In the last few weeks and months alone, decisions that have been talked about for decades have been and will be taken.”, he added, citing among others the “unemployment insurance reform“, the measures of “purchasing power”, “inflation compensation”, “the energy check”, “the increase in the salaries of the most modest civil servants”, “thermal renovation”.
The head of state did not elaborate on his choice to stand for re-election or not, next April, in the next presidential election. “Whatever my place and the circumstances, I will continue to serve you and from my France, our part, no one will know how to uproot my heart”, he declared, suggesting a probable candidacy by defending his reforms.