His speech was eagerly awaited. “The masks are falling” and “the battle of values is coming to light” in view of the anticipated legislative elections, launched Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday June 12 during his press conference organized three days after the dissolution of the National Assembly.
After having “taken note of a blockage” in the National Assembly, the dissolution “only allows the clarification of things”, he said, pointing the finger at the alliance of LR Eric Ciotti and the RN. He also accused LFI of having created a “sometimes constant” and “disturbing” disorder at the Bourbon Palace, further accusing the “extreme left” of “anti-Semitism” and “anti-parliamentarism”.
The Express takes stock of the president’s announcements.
Macron wants to build a rally
Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he would like, “before or after” the early legislative elections, a gathering of those who “know how to say no to the extremes”, to “build a sincere and useful common project for the country” to “govern”.
“I want above all” the “maximum number of elected officials” from the presidential majority, explained the head of state at a press conference. “But I hope that when the time comes, before or after, women and men of good will will come together who will have together been able to say no to extremes, and who will be able to build a sincere and useful common project for the country” , he also declared, referring to a “new project”, a “federation of projects to govern”, and charging the parties of his majority to begin discussions with other political groups. He also confirmed that he ruled out resigning.
Macron will not campaign or debate with Le Pen
Emmanuel Macron will not lead the majority campaign in the legislative elections, which will be “led by the Prime Minister” and will not have a debate with Marine Le Pen. “The President of the Republic must set a course, a vision. But he is not there to campaign in the legislative elections,” he declared. As for a debate with Marine Le Pen, “I made this offer of clarification before the Europeans because she had submitted it. She did not attend the meeting (…) I understand that Madame Le Pen wanted to replay the presidential election by saying (…) that I then had to resign. I invite him to reread the Constitution.
“I fully accept having triggered a movement of clarification” by dissolving the Assembly, he continued. “When 50% of French people vote at the extremes, when you have a relative majority in the Assembly, you cannot tell them ‘we continue as if nothing had happened’. That is not respecting them, it is not hear them,” added the head of state. “I want there to be a government that can act to respond to their anger, to their emergencies,” he further argued. “If people are afraid” that a far-right Prime Minister will be appointed to Matignon, “well the shock is for now”.
Macron accuses the RN of “ambiguity” towards Russia and of wanting an “exit from NATO”
Emmanuel Macron accused the National Rally of maintaining “ambiguity towards Russia”, also castigating “the exit from NATO” advocated by the Lepenists, during a press conference in view of the legislative elections. “On the extreme left, it is a balkanized vision of our politics, of our diplomacy,” added the head of state, believing that it was “not possible, nor with regard to vis-à-vis Ukraine, nor in relation to the Middle East.
New Caledonia: electoral reform suspended
Emmanuel Macron affirmed to “suspend” the draft constitutional law modifying the electoral body of New Caledonia, at the origin of the riots there, to “give all its force to the dialogue on the spot and the return to order”.
“The constitutional bill which was voted on in the same terms by both chambers, I decided to suspend it because we cannot leave ambiguity in the period,” declared the head of state during his press conference. De facto, the head of state cannot convene a Congress since the dissolution of the National Assembly.
“Eight new nuclear reactors”
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Wednesday that he wanted to build “eight new nuclear reactors” EPR2, in addition to the first six reactors already confirmed.
“The government program will have to make strong decisions, such as eight new nuclear reactors essential” to the energy transition of the country, which is committed to moving away from fossil fuels, declared the president. In February 2022, even before the war in Ukraine, the president announced an ambitious nuclear revival policy providing for the construction of six new generation reactors with an option for eight additional.
Pensions “will be well indexed to inflation”
Emmanuel Macron promised Wednesday that pensions will remain “well indexed to inflation”, contrary to the assertions of the National Rally which affirms that the government has a “hidden agenda” on the subject.
“I will be very clear that pensions will be well indexed to inflation, the purchasing power of retirees, this is not an adjustment variable,” assured Mr. Macron who accused “the extreme blocs left” and “far right” to put the pension system “in bankruptcy” by proposing to reconsider the 2023 pension reform.
Macron wants to “remove a territorial level”
Emmanuel Macron wanted on Wednesday to “remove a territorial level” in the French administrative organization, and to give citizens the “choice” to “reopen the question of the large regions which have moved away from the decision”, sensitive in several of them.
“We need to decentralize much more quickly but we will have to remove a territorial level to bring more simplicity and freedom to the territories, reopen the question of these large regions which have moved away the decision and restore freedom of choice on the ground to our compatriots if they want to return to this subject”, affirmed the President of the Republic in introductory remarks.
A “strengthening of a sovereign axis”
Emmanuel Macron promised on Wednesday “republican authority at all levels” and a “strengthening of a sovereign axis”, while respecting republican “values”.
“Republican authority, therefore, at all levels, with very clear elements (…) which is the strengthening of a sovereign axis”, he affirmed in introductory remarks at a press conference organized after the dissolution of the National Assembly. He proposed “more firmness, but within the framework of the Republic and its values”. “This is also what pits us against (…) the two extremes,” he judged. “What is proposed today by the extreme left is a response through communitarianism and laxity”, and “what is proposed by the extreme right and those who are allied with it is a response to insecurity by leaving the Republic, its values, its very foundation.
Macron for banning telephones “before 11 years” and networks “before 15 years”
Emmanuel Macron spoke out in favor of banning the telephone “before the age of 11” and social networks “before the age of 15”, in line with the report submitted to the president by a commission of experts on the impact of the exposure of young people on screens.
Furthermore, the Head of State made a “mea culpa” on the subject of “housing for young people”. “This is a subject on which we have not made enough progress and where France has been too timid and I bear responsibility for it,” he declared during a press conference to launch the campaign early legislative elections.