these words from Emmanuel Macron during his press conference which confirm his “turn to the right”

Certain terms chosen by the President of the Republic on Tuesday evening, and some of the promised measures may have recalled the speeches of the right and the extreme right. A strategy for the European elections.

A few words loaded with heavy symbolism. Emmanuel Macron raised eyebrows among several of his opponents on Tuesday January 16 during his press conference organized at the Elysée. In his opening remarks, the Head of State explained that his government was meeting “around a simple line” For “that France remains France, so that France remains this nation of common sense, resistance and Enlightenment”.

These words are politically marked. The slogan “So that France remains France” was thus used by Les Républicains on a leaflet published in 2018, then as a campaign slogan by Eric Zemmour, far-right candidate, during the 2022 presidential campaign.

The left immediately denounced a turn to the right by the president, a week after the appointment of the new government. Onthe boss of Europe ecology-The Greens, Marine Tondelier, did not hesitate to denounce “a reactionary technocrat’s speech”.

A semantic “turn” “hard right”

During his speech, Emmanuel Macron delivered an argument focused on “rearmament” of France and the French, on many levels: “civic”, “demographic” Or “agricultural”. The notion of“order” was also omnipresent. Responding to a journalist questioning him about the image “old game” that this speech risked sending back, the president estimated “that there is no progress without order” and “where we are old fashioned is when there is only order and not progress.” The Head of State affirmed his desire to “give back benchmarks, through the knowledge that we transmit, through the history that we transmit, through the values ​​that we transmit.”

Semantically, “there is a shift to the entire right, with a dominant discourse which is the supervision of youth”, analyzes political communications specialist Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, interviewed by franceinfo. The head of state thus promised “refounded civic education”the return of a “graduation ceremony” in middle and high schools, or even supervision of the use of screens to “our children”. Atypical positions, according to the professor at Sciences Po Paris:

“We have the impression that he carries the vision of a dangerous youth, which we have not heard since 1968.”

Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, specialist in political communication

at franceinfo

The Head of State’s announcements on Tuesday confirm the hardening of his speech. Emmanuel Macron thus mentioned the possible generalization of the “unique outfit” in National Education by 2026, if the experiment which will begin proves conclusive. A subject dear to the right and the far right. He also declared himself “favorable” to the systematic learning of The Marseillaise in primary. On order”the Head of State, among other things, promised to accelerate the pace of “clearance” operations in neighborhoods plagued by drug trafficking.

An assumed political strategy against Marine Le Pen

This right-wing of speech and actions is part of a political strategy, consistent with the appointment of right-wing heavyweights in the government of Gabriel Attal. “A battle is underway between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron to absorb the right”, observes Philippe Moreau Chevrolet. Well ahead of the National Rally in the polls ahead of the European elections on June 9, Emmanuel Macron took on Tuesday a frontal response to the far right, particularly on the theme of immigration: “Yes, I claim to fight against illegal immigration on our territory, (…) to be able to dismantle smuggling networks.”

“If you leave that to the National Rally, I can tell you, there, you will pave the way for it.”

Emmanuel Macron

during his press conference

“President Macron gives an update to the far right, whose program he validates”reacted the environmentalist deputy Benjamin Lucas on. We are far from “at the same time” promoted by Emmanuel Macron during his election in 2017. “It is the normalization of macronism, which aligns with the left-right divide”, estimates Philippe Moreau Chevrolet. At the risk of confusing part of its electorate and its support?

During the vote on the immigration law, toughened after negotiations with the right, 20 deputies from the majority voted against and 19 abstained. “This is a new disavowal for his left wing, he takes the risk of solidifying the opposition internally”, underlines the specialist in political communication. These elected officials from the left wing of the presidential camp could also be tempted to form a dissident group and make the adoption of laws a little more complicated in the National Assembly, where Emmanuel Macron and the government do not have a majority. absolute.