The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, said she was ready, in an interview with Le Figaro posted online on Wednesday December 6, to put more resources into protecting the French after the knife attack committed on Saturday in Paris. “All countries in the world are exposed to risks that must be avoided. We are mobilizing resources for these Olympic Games and we will mobilize more if necessary,” she said. “With the recently passed programming laws, the budgets of the ministries of the interior, justice and the armed forces have been further strengthened. If necessary, we will go even further,” she adds.
The head of government suggests in particular that individuals like the suspect in Saturday’s attack, known to the intelligence services for his radical Islamism and psychiatric disorders, could be the subject of “even more sustained attention”. “It is true that a significant number of people are monitored for radicalization and terrorism. There are people under psychiatric care. At the intersection of the two, you may have individuals who require even greater attention,” she says. While her Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had pointed out a “failure” in the psychiatric follow-up of the alleged perpetrator of the attack, Ms. Borne considers that “it is all the links in the chain that must be examined.”
On Wednesday, the Franco-Iranian Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab was indicted. Aged 26, he said he had acted in “reaction to the persecution of Muslims around the world”, while the government had said it feared the importation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas onto French soil. The attack occurred less than two months after that in Arras (Pas-de-Calais) which cost the life of a teacher in mid-October and led to the Vigipirate plan being raised to the maximum “emergency attack” level. And eight months before the Olympic Games (JO) in Paris, scheduled for next summer, when 15 million spectators are expected in the Paris region.
Continue to “carry out reforms”
On the very sensitive immigration bill, another sovereign issue carried by her Minister of the Interior, Elisabeth Borne expressed her “confidence” in Gérald Darmanin to find a majority in the National Assembly. But she also says she is waiting for “proposals” from her and from the Minister of Health, Adrien Rousseau, to possibly adapt state medical aid (AME) for undocumented foreigners, called into question by the Senate during the debate on this bill.
In this context, she also affirms that a renegotiation of a Franco-Algerian agreement of 1968, which confers a favorable status to Algerians for their conditions of movement, stay and employment in France, is “the order of the day “. The right and members of the majority want it to be called into question, judging this treaty too favorable to Algerians in terms of immigration.
On the economic front, Ms. Borne does not take up the proposal of her Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, to reduce the duration of unemployment compensation for those over 55. “My first concern is that seniors remain employed,” she said, suggesting “extending” progressive retirement.
But like him, she wants to continue to “carry out reforms”, specifying that “the legislative calendar for the coming months will be guided by the affirmation of authority, the search for full employment, the questions of energy and housing, the transformation of our agriculture, the effectiveness of public action”. While several of her ministers are agitated in view of the presidential election of 2027, she explains that in her position “we do not comment on the hypothetical ambitions of one or the other”. “We must continue to devote our energy to carrying out the following reforms. This is what I expect from all ministers. »
