Emmanuel Macron tries to turn the page on pensions by returning to the field of the economy

2023-05-10 12:00:13

Emmanuel Macron and the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, at the Mondial de l’auto, in Paris, on October 17, 2022. GONZALO FUENTES / AFP

Can the policy of supply alone take the place of a course for a second term accused of lacking it? Faced with attacks from the far right, which openly questions the economic competence of the Head of State since the downgrading of the French debt rating by the rating agency Fitch on April 28, Emmanuel Macron intends to hammer out a counter-narrative. That of the dynamism of the French economy, its reindustrialisation and its attractiveness on the international scene, despite a tense public finance situation and a social climate still dominated by pension reform and the concerns of the French regarding the effects of the inflation.

In front of 150 business leaders and parliamentarians gathered in the village hall of the Elysée, Thursday, May 11, he will therefore once again defend the effectiveness of the supply policy carried out for six years, which has resulted in approximately 30 billion euros in tax cuts in favor of companies since 2017, and by what he sees as the beginning of a movement to reindustrialize the country. Before, on Friday, to announce new foreign investments “massive” during a trip to Dunkirk where he could confirm the establishment of a new car battery factory – a sign that the country remains attractive despite the pension reform, which has damaged its international image .

Then to close the sequence on Monday, with the Choose France summit, in Versailles, in front of some 200 foreign bosses invited to this event, which is the sixth edition, and which aims to promote foreign investment in France. All of this should allow him to return to a field that is usually favorable to him – that of the economy.

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Despite France’s good performance in this area – with an unemployment rate down to 7%, GDP growth higher than Germany’s in 2022 at 2.6%, tax revenues climbing despite cuts in tax and inflation lower than the rest of Europe – the story of French economic success is struggling to break through in a country still marked by the scars of pension reform and concerned about purchasing power issues.

Supply Policy Cap

However, the executive has not given up showing that « [sa] economic policy, it works”, do we insist at the Elysée, where we boast of having held the course of the supply policy since 2017, to which is attributed a start of reindustrialization of the country, “especially in the North, where the left and the National Rally (RN) are based on impoverishment and the feeling of abandonment to campaign”. And where Emmanuel Macron will go on Friday.

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