Ecology, inflation, migrants… What will Emmanuel Macron talk about at 20 Hours?

2023-09-24 12:34:31

Emmanuel Macron is the guest this Sunday on the 20 Heures newspapers of TF1 and France 2. The opportunity for the President of the Republic to return to the visits of Charles III and Pope Francis to France this week, but he will also be expected on the challenges of returning to school, from inflation to immigration.

An unpleasant political surprise fell a few hours before the television interview: the only minister in the running in the senatorial elections, Secretary of State Sonia Backès, was defeated on Sunday in New Caledonia. The head of state will have to react to this disappointing result.

Live from the Élysée, he will speak “after a historic week where France received the King of the United Kingdom as well as the Pope in the middle of the Rugby World Cup”, underlined the presidency. In his entourage, several voices encouraged him to speak out in the event of the success of this “triple mondovision event”. “We should still give it to his credit,” slips an executive from the presidential camp. And, in passing, “answer all the Cassandras that we are ready for the Olympic Games” next summer.

Any details on the referendum?

The exercise is double-edged: in Marseille, the sovereign pontiff was harsh towards the political class on the fate of migrants who die trying to cross the Mediterranean. The Élysée assured that France had “nothing to be ashamed of” in terms of “welcome and integration”, but President Macron, who attended the papal mass at the Stade Vélodrome, was dismissed by the left on its own balance sheet.

He “behaves in a particularly hypocritical manner because it is he who puts these policies in place” on immigration, launched the “rebellious” Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Above all, the executive is struggling to find a parliamentary majority on its immigration law.

The tenant of the Élysée could perhaps clarify his intentions on a possible opening of the field of the referendum, including to social questions such as immigration, discussed with the party leaders whom he gathered at the end of August in Saint- Denis. He also wishes to repeat this unprecedented conclave, possibly at the end of October or the beginning of November.

The head of the Catholic Church also sent a new warning to the government which is preparing to unveil a bill which could go so far as to authorize “active assistance in dying”. “We don’t play with life!” “, he insisted. Emmanuel Macron explained to him the “timetable” of the text, expected “in the coming weeks”, but not the content, assured an advisor.

Ecology, budget and international diplomacy

This intervention, in front of journalists Anne-Claire Coudray and Laurent Delahousse, also takes place “on the eve of the presentation of ecological planning”, noted the presidential entourage. This meeting on Monday, during which Emmanuel Macron will deliver a speech at the end of a ministerial meeting at the Élysée, seemed to several observers a little dull when it is theoretically a question of embarking the French in the great project in the fight against global warming. A priority on which, in the opinion of Macronie itself, the head of state has so far failed to outline a major mobilizing story. The 20 Hours will perhaps be an opportunity to better articulate its vision.

Three days before the presentation of the budget for 2024 in the Council of Ministers, the president will also be expected to address the issue of inflation and purchasing power, which is very sensitive at the start of the school year. The oppositions have gone on the offensive on this key concern of the French, accusing the executive of not protecting them sufficiently – especially since the idea of ​​authorizing the sale of fuel at a loss currently resembles a government failure.

Finally, while Emmanuel Macron wishes to invoke the visits of the week to highlight the international status of France, diplomatic news does not bring him good news. France must still find a way out of the impasse resulting from the July coup in Niger, refusing so far to withdraw its troops and its ambassador declared persona non grata by the military regime.

And the head of state, who tried in the past to mediate the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, was taken by surprise like the entire international community by Azerbaijan’s offensive which won a lightning victory in this secessionist region mainly populated by Armenians.