(Paris) Emmanuel Macron addresses the French on Monday at 8 p.m. to try to relaunch his second five-year term after the promulgation of the pension reform, in an atmosphere of persistent political and social crisis.
The President of the Republic promulgated this disputed law in the hours which followed the validation Friday by the Constitutional Council of the retirement at 64 years. And he continues with a solemn televised address, without opponents.
This acceleration illustrates its desire to regain the initiative. But the task promises to be immense with an executive damaged by three months of social conflict and still deprived of an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
The speed of the promulgation was denounced by opponents of the reform. “Contempt to the end”, judged the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, who warned the head of state on Monday against a still strong “resentment”.
“ We can’t pass the towel”, he said on France 2.
“ We are not ready to move on”, also warned Public Senate the first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure, while calls have flourished on social networks for concerts of saucepans and rallies in front of town halls or prefectures. at 8 p.m., when the president will speak from his palace.
At the Élysée, we recognize that this phase leaves “anger in the heads and in the hearts”, and we assure that Mr. Macron will take this into account.
But after receiving ministers and officials from his camp in the afternoon, he wants above all to “restore overall coherence to his action”, “draw prospects for the weeks and months to come” and “outline the projects priority, continues his entourage. With a confirmed “course”: republican order, full employment and reindustrialisation, daily progress around education, health and ecology.
The president should also quickly leave the Élysée to “discuss with the French”.
Apart from the Agricultural Show at the end of February, Mr. Macron has stayed away from the crowds since the beginning of the year. Will he be able to reconnect with this contact, when his last trips have been heckled by demonstrators?
“ I ask that Macron spend more time in the field ”, including “ within slaps ”, argues a minister.
A trip could take place as early as Wednesday or Thursday, on the theme of education, followed by others. He could reserve announcements on teacher salaries, according to several macronists, who warn that other expenses should not be expected to heal the wounds of the dispute.
Re-establishing the link with the French will therefore be difficult. The president’s popularity is at its lowest since the “yellow vests” crisis at the end of 2018, and in his camp, it is hoped that he will manage to bounce back as at the time.
Resuming language with the unions also promises to be difficult.
The Élysée ensures that a meeting between Emmanuel Macron and the social partners is well maintained on Tuesday… despite the dismissal of an inter-union which calls for a “period of decency”. He could therefore find himself face to face with employers, at the risk of sending a new divisive image.
Among the unions, we are banking more on a show of force on May 1, after which the CFDT could however return to the table to discuss other issues around work.
Relaunching the machine will be all the more complex as the executive emerges weakened from the sequence.
“I find the country worried, angry too, you have to hear this anger”, warns the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne hammered home her determination on Saturday to “accelerate” while ensuring that she wanted to “appease the country”.
But to accelerate which reforms, without an absolute majority? Mr. Macron had entrusted him in March with the mission of widening the relative majority, but the head of government did not succeed. However, it should be reinforced at Matignon.
“ Does the absence of an absolute majority prevent us from carrying out the reforms? Obviously not”, evacuates an adviser to the executive, citing in particular the example … of that of pensions.
“ A totally charred Prime Minister, a discredited government ”, judged on the contrary the leader of the National Rally Marine Le Pen, for whom the Head of State has three solutions: referendum, dissolution of the National Assembly… or resignation.
“ It’s true that there are not many solutions today”, admits the boss of the Macronist senators François Patriat, believing that the president “ must speak ” to those who, from the former Prime Socialist Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to the putative right-wing candidate for the Élysée Palace Laurent Wauquiez, could join “ a large central bloc ” to block “ the inexorable rise of the populists ”.
