And if that was it, “new president” ? Since he was re-elected head of state on April 24, Emmanuel Macron has shown a caution to which he had not accustomed the French during his first five-year term. L’“boldness” then claimed has turned into a wait-and-see attitude. The tenant of the Elysée thus took a month to appoint a government whose framework is in line with the previous one. Many headliners remain in place (Gérald Darmanin on the inside, Eric Dupond-Moretti in justice, Bruno Le Maire in the economy), while others, starting with the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, do not just change assignments.
This new team, gathered for a first council of ministers, Monday, May 23, barely has time to shake off when it is already caught in the reserve period imposed by the legislative elections. Between now and the ballot on June 12 and 19, members of the government will not be able to travel, except in exceptional circumstances, or make announcements likely to influence the campaign.
Clearly, nothing or almost nothing moves for another month. Enough to give Emmanuel Macron time to adapt his plans to the composition of the future National Assembly and above all not to weigh on the shoulders of his candidates any unpopular measures. For now, only an amending finance bill on purchasing power has been announced. A file to store in the department of good news, therefore, to respond to the first concern of the French. It will be “the first text examined by the new National Assembly”assured Elisabeth Borne in an interview with Sunday newspaper of 22 May.
It should provide, according to the head of government, “the extension of the tariff shield [sur l’énergie] and discounts on fuel prices, the creation of food vouchers, the revaluation of social minima as well as pensions on inflation, the raising of the index point for the civil service, the abolition of the audiovisual license fee, the tripling of the Macron bonus and a new reduction in the cost for the self-employed”.
Inflation is the enemy. If the new budget minister, Gabriel Attal, has undertaken to be “a relentless craftsman in keeping our public accounts”his colleague Bruno Le Maire warned for his part that “the protection of the French against rising prices” represented the “first political and economic challenge” of the executive. “There is no proposal for revenue or savings. We continue in whatever it costs and we go towards whatever happens”worried the president (Les Républicains) of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, on Sunday, on Europe 1 and CNews.
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