He had remained silent until then. The Head of State took the floor for the first time since the first round of legislative elections to address the French, in a solemn setting, Tuesday afternoon June 14. From the tarmac at Orly airport, just before flying to Romania, the latter urged the French to mobilize on Sunday at the ballot box to “give a solid majority to the country”. « Nothing would be worse than to add to the world disorder a French disorder”, warned Emmanuel Macron.
Referring, at the beginning of his speech, to the multiple consequences of the war in Ukraine, as he prepared to fly to Eastern Europe, he said: “In these troubled times, the choice you will have to make on Sunday June 19 is more crucial than ever”. “This is a historic moment and we are living in historic timessaid Emmanuel Macron. Since it is in the best interests of the nation, today I want to convince you to give, on Sunday, a solid majority in the country. »
“Sunday, no voice must be missing from the Republic”
According to him, “Faced with the crises that are sure to arise, nothing would be worse than losing ourselves in immobility, in blocking or in postures”. “For that, we need a solid majority to declare our independence. This independence, we will not achieve it by more taxes”he further defended, in an attack addressed directly to Nupes and its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The latter has been repeating since the first round of legislative elections that the government plans to increase VAT in the coming months: an accusation without proof, judged thus “misleading”, by the executive. To answer this, Emmanuel Macron thus assured on Tuesday: “On the contrary, we will continue to decline [les impôts]. Nor by more debt do we have to reduce it. Neither by degrowth, we fight it ».
The Head of State concluded his speech by calling on voters to mobilize at the polls on Sunday June 19, when abstention reached a historic record of 52.48% in the first round. “We are at the time of choices and the great choices are never made by abstention. I therefore appeal to your common sense and to the Republican start.did he declare.
He claimed to have heard “the difficulties that have arisen” in the first round, while the outgoing majority under the banner Ensemble! (25.82%) was overtaken by Nupes (26.11%), ahead of the National Rally. A result which does not guarantee that the Head of State can obtain an absolute majority during his second five-year term. Calling on voters to ensure him a majority, he added: “Neither abstention nor confusion, but clarification. On Sunday, no voice must be missing from the Republic”.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon denounces the “contempt” of the head of state
The second round match between the current majority and the Nupes promises to be tight, against the backdrop of a campaign at loggerheads, accentuated between the two camps. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the “rebellious” and conductor of the left coalition, tries, for his part, to capitalize on the votes obtained in the first round to transform the test. Valuing the program of Nupes, he never ceases to target the executive during his media interventions, to install the duel and mobilize the abstainers.
Tuesday, in an interview with the daily The Parisian, he attacked the head of state for his ” contempt ” supposed towards the French and the legislative ballot. “I see first that, for three days, Emmanuel Macron has planned a trip outside France. For three days, there is therefore no longer a pilot in the Macronist political plane ”believes, moreover, Mr. Mélenchon, for whom the Head of State, “After having anesthetized the campaign by refusing any debate, [voit] the second round as an administrative formality… What contempt! »
Just after speaking on the tarmac of the Ile-de-France airport, the President of the Republic took off for a three-day trip, first to Romania then to Moldova. Tuesday evening, he visits the 500 French soldiers mobilized within the framework of NATO in Romania, since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, before a visit of support to Moldova, Wednesday, and a possible trip to kyiv .