MACRON PROGRAM. For his second term, Emmanuel Macron has already made it known that he intends to carry out the dreaded pension reform. But what about its ambitions in terms of health, education, security or even justice? Update on his program.
Emmanuel Macron is seeking a second term. After five years at the head of the country, the president-candidate does not intend to stop there. The one who made it official his candidacy for the presidential election, on March 3, in a letter to the French, presented his program at a press conference on Thursday March 17 from the Docks de Paris in Seine-Saint-Denis. In a speech lasting an hour and a half, the candidate of La République en Marche presented the major reforms of his presidential project along three lines: the measures to become an independent nation – in terms of defense and production in particular -, the reforms to create “a united society” where citizens are equal and have the same opportunities with regard to purchasing power, work, health or even school, and finally on the “republican pact” which concerns questions security, judicial and administrative.
Emmanuel Macron’s program follows three guiding threads which are the three great ambitions of candidate Emmanuel Macron: to make France an independent nation, to be a united and just society and to respect the republican pact. Here are some of his proposals:
- To become an independent nation, the candidate of La République en Marche relies on France’s ability to defend itself and plans to reinforce the army to make it more adapted to new challenges and new dangers. Also he promises to continue to increase the budget of the Ministry of Defense as he did during his first five-year term. Independence is also the ability to meet one’s own food, energy, health and other needs by improving production, agricultural and industrial policies. In terms of energy, he assures us that France can become the “first great nation to emerge from independence on gas and coal” by betting on the energy mix of nuclear and renewable energies. It also advocates energy saving and energy renovation of 700,000 homes per year in addition to promoting the use of the electric car. The question inevitably leads to the climate and on this point the candidate is pleased to have seen greenhouse gas emissions decrease twice as fast as expected.
- Emmanuel Macron focuses his efforts on work and training. He wishes to develop the autonomy of universities and above all to accelerate research to make France attractive in this sector. Vocational training could be more numerous and more open to companies to offer quality training and guarantee the rapid integration of students into the world of work. Pôle emploi is also concerned by this reform and would be transformed into “France travail”, ie the meeting of all skills to better support job seekers. Another reform in the same vein, that of the RSA: Emmanuel Macron wishes to submit the payment of the RSA against the obligation to continue 15 to 20 hours of activity enabling professional integration.
- On the pension reform, Emmanuel Macron says he has changed his project since 2017 but confirms the postponement of the legal age to 65 while specifying “to take into account long careers” and “the reality of trades and tasks”. He assures that according to the OECD the postponement of retirement goes hand in hand with a better activity rate for seniors because this forces companies to adapt.
- Concerning the united society, the will of the president is to fight against inequalities social at the root, it also aims for the better inclusion of people with disabilities, in particular children with disabilities, at school thanks to an upgrading of the situation of accompanying persons and AESH. It is once again making equality between men and women an objective of its program with better management of women’s health, like its program for endometriosis, and single-parent families, which are often female.
- Equality is also everyone’s relationship to school and health. Emmanuel Macron promises a “broad consultation” to “change the mode of operation” of the school with a new remuneration for teachers, individualized follow-up of pupils and more autonomy for schools. In terms of health, Emmanuel Macron promises a “massive reinforcement” in medical deserts and a new allocation of simple tasks to allow doctors to free up time: nurses and pharmacists could, for example, renew a prescription. In nursing homes, Macron’s program promises the recruitment of 50,000 caregivers and nurses.
- The Republican Pact brings together the reforms of the security, judicial and administrative aspects. Substantial recruitment is envisaged with the creation of 200 gendarmerie brigades, the increase in police personnel but also the hiring of 8,500 magistrates throughout France. The pact would ensure the facilitation of procedures, the shortening of file processing times and the verification of the effectiveness of penalties, among other things. The administration would also be subject to “drastic simplification”.