After the difficult adoption of the immigration bill, Emmanuel Macron promised a “new course” and “new major challenges” for 2024.
A hotly contested pension reform adopted without a vote in Parliament and a very controversial immigration law marked the year in politics. 2023 has been eventful and synonymous with tensions for the executive. Emmanuel Macron has promised a “new course” for 2024 with new laws expected in both Chambers. While his relative majority hinders his ability to act, he wants to show that he is still on the initiative while needing the votes of the opposition.
Among the reforms that should be quickly put on the table by the government, that on the end of life occupies a central place. The President of the Republic affirmed that he was willing to “take the time” before presenting a bill on the subject. On this text, as expected as it is sensitive, the executive has pushed back the deadline several times. After the citizens’ convention on the end of life, mostly in favor of active assistance in dying, the text will finally be presented in February 2024. A project which could be carried out by Minister Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, who took “interim” responsibility. helm of the Ministry of Health after the resignation of Aurélien Rousseau.
IVG, full employment and housing
Another highly symbolic reform, the inclusion of voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in the Constitution is hoped by the executive for March 5 via a Congress in Versailles. A timetable which involves convincing the Senate and its right-wing majority, still skeptical. This meeting, as rare as it is solemn, of deputies and senators is an obligatory step in having a constitutional reform adopted. And the agenda is tight for the executive, because a prerequisite is necessary before going to the vote in Congress: that the text has been adopted by both houses of Parliament in the same terms, on January 24 in the National Assembly and on February 26 in the Senate. Any editorial modification by the Senate would in any case disrupt the government’s timetable, because a new examination would be necessary.
Among Emmanuel Macron’s promises for this second term, unemployment is obviously monitored very closely at the Elysée. And discussions could accelerate on an economic reform, beyond those already at work since 2017. Especially since the executive expects employment figures to deteriorate slightly in the coming months. . Decisions on housing, particularly in favor of young workers, are also expected.
Matignon also announced the intention to present a constitutional bill to reform the electoral body of New Caledonia for the provincial elections. It will be examined by the National Assembly and the Senate then by the two Assemblies meeting in Congress in the first half of 2024.
The President of the Republic, always in search of finding a new dynamic in this mandate marked by political divisions, must also organize for January an enigmatic “meeting with the Nation”, of which he only said that it would be in “part ” linked to school, “the mother of battles”.