The Head of State answered questions from France 2 and TF1 on Monday from New Caledonia, where he is starting a week-long tour of the Pacific.
Emmanuel Macron connected from Nouméa to answer questions from France 2 and TF1, during an interview recorded and broadcast in the 1 p.m. newspaper of the two channels, Monday July 24. The President of the Republic has started a week-long tour of the Pacific in New Caledonia. For his first interview since the riots following the death of young Nahel and the reshuffle, he made no announcements but insisted on the return to order after the urban violence and spoke about the start of the school year and future tax cuts.
A (timid) support for Elisabeth Borne
Four days after the cabinet reshuffle, Emmanuel Macron justified in a few words the maintenance of Elisabeth Borne at Matignon: “It’s the choice of trust, continuity and efficiency”. The President drew a rather positive assessment of the 100 days, a period he himself had decreed for “appease the country” after the chaotic course of the pension reform. “There have sometimes been days with and days without, but the government has moved forward, which justifies this choice of confidence by the Prime Minister”, did he declare.
The President notes that she “has tried” to enlarge the presidential majority. However, he believes that there is no “no replacement majorities, but exchange majorities”. In other words: there is according to him “no alternative majority” in the presidential camp, while “the government was able to find majorities to get people to vote” his texts. As for the prospect of an agreement with certain parties, the president has apparently buried it: “I don’t believe in formal coalitions, what has happened in recent months has shown that.”
A focus on order after the riots
Barely a month after the riots sparked by the death of young Nahel in Nanterre during a police check, Emmanuel Macron once again hailed the deployment of the police, which allowed “in four days to put an end to these riots, without taking measures restricting the freedoms of each and everyone”. Unlike, he compared, the three weeks of urban violence that took place in 2005 with the triggering of the state of emergency. “The lesson I take from this is order, order, order”hammered the head of state.
Asked about the comments of the director of the national police about the provisional detention of a police officer in Marseille, Emmanuel Macron did not wish to comment on this case. “It is a decision that was taken by a magistrate, so I will not comment on it”he swept away. “I understand the emotion that there is among our police officers, you have to hear it, this emotion”he continued, while ensuring that “No one in the Republic is above the law”. “I would not like us to get the wrong debate”he also completed, highlighting “the 900 wounded” among law enforcement and “28 surveys” launched by the IGPN and the IGGN.
The “parental authority” project launched at the end of the summer
“Our country needs a return of authority at every level, and first in the family”judged the president, who wants open “at the end of summer” THE “construction site of parental authority”. Without detailing its content, he considered that it was necessary “empower some families”, “accompany other families who are in distress” And “reinvest massively in our youth to give it a new direction”.
The Head of State also pinpointed the role of “social networks” in these riots, pleading for “find a digital public order that makes it possible to prevent these overflows”.
Promises to reassure one month before the start of the school year
The appointment on Thursday of a new Minister of National Education has raised questions about the preparation for the start of the school year in a month. Emmanuel Macron responded by assuring that there would be “a teacher in front of each class” back to school, thanks to “a series of small revolutions”, such as training reform and better pay. He quoted the “teacher pact”, which provides for the replacement of absent teachers by their volunteer colleagues, in exchange for better pay.
He also recalled that contract workers would be hired “everywhere” where necessary to ensure re-entry. Emmanuel Macron also mentioned future adjustments concerning the baccalaureate or Parcoursup, which must be “more human”.
Oppositions called to “help” on the immigration bill
This is one of the projects that Emmanuel Macron hoped to launch during the 100 days. But the immigration bill had to be postponed. The Head of State announced that the government would work with “the opposition forces who have made proposals to build a text which will have to go first to the Senate and then to the Assembly”. “I am hopeful that the Republican oppositions, in good faith, will help us build a text”, he assured. A formulation which, in the mouth of Emmanuel Macron, seems to exclude the National Rally and La France insoumise.
He did not close the door to recourse to Article 49.3 in the event of a lack of majority on this reform. “The Constitution provides ways for the texts, and I will have the responsibility that efficiency is there”.
Taxes, electricity prices, ecology… confirmations but no announcements
Emmanuel Macron confirmed several announcements already known in different sectors. He thus declared that tax reductions would be registered “in the multiannual public finance law”, whose timetable will be specified “in September”.
The Head of State acknowledged that the increase in the regulated price of electricity, on August 1, “is important for many of our compatriots in difficulty”while ensuring that France “To[llait] produce more electricity by returning [ses] nuclear power plants in operation. A reform aimed at reducing the cost of electricity is being finalized.
As for the heat wave and the risk of fires, the president estimated that “we are approaching the summer with better prepared equipment and personnel” than in 2022. In the longer term, Emmanuel Macron talks about investments in the ecology of “several billion” in 2024, while consultation on ecological planning is underway.