MACRON PROGRAM. In the running for a second term, Emmanuel Macron wants to set up a gradual retirement at 65 or even extend the Culture Pass. But what are the other measures that the candidate wants to put in place during his five-year term? We take stock of his program.
Emmanuel Macron hopes to be re-elected for a second term as head of the country. On Saturday April 2, he carried out his only campaign meeting, in the largest closed room in Europe, at the Paris la Défense Arena, in front of nearly 30,000 people, the president-candidate had developed the ideas he wishes put in place for his five-year term. He detailed the first ideas, among others, on education, retreats or culture, which he had given during a press conference on Thursday March 17 from the Docks de Paris in Seine-Saint-Denis. Its program is now made public and available in its entirety.
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.
The outgoing president wants to make school one of the priorities of his second five-year term. On fundamental subjects, he intends increase the hours of French and maths in primary and 6th grade, but also put maths in the common core in high school. Emmanuel Macron intends to continue the duplication of classes in priority education, extending it from CE2 to CM2. He also wants increase exercise hours with 30 minutes a day in primary from the start of the next school year and 2 additional hours of PE lessons each week in college.
Regarding the teachers, two weeks after the presentation of his program and a speech considered brutal against them, he this time had them applauded. Even if the candidate said he was against a general upgrade, he said he was ready to devote twelve billion euros over the five-year period, to better pay teachers. Thus, Emmanuel Macron wants to make a “pact” with them: the teachers will have increases if they accept “new missions”, to be defined during a consultation at the start of the five-year term. The candidate also insisted on teachers who would be “freerto propose, to innovate, to experiment, to try other methods, in the class, and to be able to share them”. Teachers will also be “free of their career”, they will be “free to choose an establishment for its singular pedagogical project, and to extract itself from the geographical movements which, sometimes, assign them to residence”.
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 ensures 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.
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.
The outgoing president recognizes in the preamble to his program: “Too many citizens do not have access to culture”. He thus proposes tocreate a €500 Culture Pass for all 18 year olds” and “dopen libraries in the evening and on Sundays”. Also, for Emmanuel Macron, “the international influence of our artistic life is running out of steam”. He therefore plans “to invest in the French creative and cultural industries by creating a dedicated investment fund of 200 million euros” by supporting creation through public artistic commissions, and the protection of copyright and neighboring rights. Faced with competition from platforms, the Head of State is betting on a different strategy from his competitors: “to create the conditions for the emergence of a “European Netflix” showcasing the best of European cinema and series”.
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.
- Concerning the united society, the will of the president is to fight against inequalities Social at root, it also aims to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities, in particular children with disabilities, at school by upgrading the situation of people accompanying students with disabilities. It once again made gender equality 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.
- 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”.
If you want to have more details and see all the measures proposed by the candidate Emmanuel Macron, it’s online, on his campaign site. Find his program here.