It is an understatement to say that the speech of the Head of State, this Monday at 8 p.m., was expected. First, because it was Emmanuel Macron’s first solemn speech, without opponents, since the wishes to the French on December 31. Then because it is obviously part of a very tense political and social context – a “moment of political incandescence” according to the expression of the President of the Republic.
Only three days after the promulgation, overnight from Friday to Saturday, of the pension reform, it was necessary to reassure its troops and appease the opposition. Set a clear course and spare potential partners to build project majorities on certain texts. Take stock of the pension reform and plan ahead. A year after the presidential election, it is this crest line between balance sheet and program that Emmanuel Macron has tried to hold. In vain, according to his opponents.
In a press release, the President of the Republicans, Éric Ciotti, with whom the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, had nevertheless managed to reach an agreement on the pension reform, said that he welcomed “with skepticism this long catalog of pious wishes which does not brings neither course nor novelty, despite objectives that are just as laudable as they are obvious. »
With this speech by
“Emmanuel Macron gives the feeling that he is beginning his mandate when he has been elected for six years as head of state”, writes the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes.
“Inaction leads to incantation. Conformism generates immobility. The display of good intentions does not make a methodical policy “, abounds, with the Point, the president of the Association of mayors of France, David Lisnard.
“This speech illustrates the weakness of government action!” He is obliged to relaunch government action himself”, supports Senator LR Pierre Charon, who notes that “the President of the Republic has given 100 days off to Élisabeth Borne” – the elected representative of Paris refers to ” 100 days of appeasement, unity and action” to which the Head of State called.
“The presidential was in 2022. Why propose a new presidential program a year late, and with crocodile tears? The law is promulgated, it is now easy to express regrets, we cannot go back. The Head of State evokes a labor law but he knows what to expect since the Council of State has already warned the government. And how much, when do you want Parliament to find the time to discuss it? Have you seen the parliamentary calendar? “, pretends to wonder his colleague Hervé Marseille, president of the UDI group in the Senate.
On the left, Jérôme Guedj, who had been on the front line, in particular, during the debate in the National Assembly on the minimum pension of 1,200 euros, regrets that the President of the Republic does “no mea culpa on the method”. “I feel like I’m watching the movie The Neverending Story. He repeats the “I had no choice” trick on us and he brushes aside all the demonstrations. The three sites is a speech he could have held before the first round of the presidential election. The problem is, what has happened since has happened! “And the deputy of Essonne to wonder: “Does he hear the anger? “.
According to the spokesperson for the RN group in the Assembly, Laure Lavalette, this speech provides “proof of the total disconnection, in capital letters, of the president with the French people. The fact that he barely had a word about food inflation proves he hasn’t seen a Frenchman for a long time. The Constitution offered him three tools, dissolution, referendum or resignation, which he did not mention. He thinks that by dusting the rug, the French will move on. It is bad to know us. After the Head of State’s intervention, the Prime Minister will detail the government’s roadmap next week.