Macron promises “order” and “authority” to lift France out of pessimism and resignation international

Emmanuel Macron promised “order” and “authority” to make a “France strong and fair” this Tuesday in a prime-time press conference. Among other measures, it proposes a “civic” and even “demographic” restructuring that would include a plan to boost the birth rate. A week after the appointment of the youngest Prime Minister in the history of the Fifth Republic, and six months before the European elections, the President of the Republic is hoping to extend his mandate, including…

Emmanuel Macron promised “order” and “authority” to make a “France strong and fair” this Tuesday in a prime-time press conference. Among other measures, it proposes a “civic” and even “demographic” restructuring that would include a plan to boost the birth rate. A week after the appointment of the youngest prime minister in the history of the Fifth Republic and six months before European elections, in which the French extreme right is the favourite, the President of the Republic is hoping to extend his mandate.

The beginning of the new government has been tarnished by the statements of Education Minister Amelie Audia-Castera. The minister justified moving his children to an elite private Catholic school by criticizing a public school in Paris, where his son was a student. Then he excused himself.

Macron certainly considers schools a priority to breathe oxygen into ailing France. The idea is that order and authority are not for the right, much less the extreme right. The left sees in these words confirmation of its turn to the right.

Before responding to the press for more than two hours, he declared, “Order goes hand in hand with progress, and authority goes hand in hand with liberty.” The setting was General de Gaulle’s famous press conference. In contrast, hundreds of journalists beneath the majestic lamps of the Elysee party room. The president, three and a half years into his second term and the last five, has proposed to counter the “feeling of resignation” that is typical of French pessimism.

“I am convinced that we have the capacity to succeed, that the story of our progress is not over and that our children will live better lives than we did,” Macron said. After this he defended the use of uniforms and learning of the national anthem in 100 centres. marcellesa, Strengthening of civic education and establishment of diploma award ceremonies. He defended, saying, “When the republic loses its sacraments, other sacraments are invented.” “I don’t think symbolism is an old thing at all.”

Seated in the front row was the new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, the youngest in the history of the Fifth Republic. And the new ministers also include some former allies of former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, such as culture chief Rachida Daati. Sarkozy’s imprint is not only noticeable on the staff; Words like “authorization” or “rearmament” recall their antecedents. “In a week,” writes the columnist of le monde François Fresoz, “Macronism has turned into a Sarco-Macronism,

Macron looks at today’s France and draws conclusions. This is a country that leans to the right on issues of security, identity or immigration. A country where the populist and radical right are stronger than ever. “The demand for rights is strong and undeniable,” commented Brice Tinturier, CEO of Ipsos France, before the press conference. “Well, the question of security is even stronger than immigration.”

Macron knows recent history. Over the past twenty years, Le Pen – first the father, Jean-Marie, and then the daughter, Marine – have qualified for the second round of presidential elections, except on two occasions: when Sarkozy was the candidate. They achieved this by adopting the right’s favorite topics of the extreme right, such as identity.

“What Macron is saying is that, if we do not take into account the issues that the RN defends, especially immigration, we leave an extremely wide field for them,” Tinturier commented. “The difficulty with this bet is that, so far, on the issue of immigration, the RN is considered the most reliable party. It’s a dilemma: not talking about the issue is RN giving up its monopoly, but talking about it takes it up.

Macron denied being right. He still remembers the feeling of 2017, when he won power claiming to be “neither left nor right”. Pointing to the left: At the press conference he said that France would not be “strong and fair” if, at the same time, “the first injustice: social and family fatalism” was not repaired. That is, the reality is that someone, because of a foreign-born surname or the neighborhood of their origin – peripheral, poor, with populations of immigrant origin – has fewer opportunities than the rest.

Macron placed his diagnosis of today’s France in a global context, calling it “the world of tomorrow that is disappearing.” To strengthen France, he said, “an indispensable element is a stronger, more united, more sovereign Europe.” He added, “The European elections will be a date and a moment of truth.”

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