2023-04-17 11:02:10
EMMANUEL MACRON
President Emmanuel Macron will make a TV address to the French nation tonight, in which he will try to ‘draw a line’ under the pension reform battle – still the cause of strikes and demos in France. Here’s what to expect.
Published: 17 April 2023 11:02 CEST
French President Emmanuel Macron will make a speech on Monday night. Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP
The presidential Élysée Palace has announced that Emmanuel Macron will make a TV appearance at 8pm on Monday. This will be in the form of a pre-recorded speech, with no questions from journalists, unlike his TV interview on the subject of pension reform in March.
Pensions
The highly controversial pension reform – the subject of months of strikes and protests – was approved by the Constitutional Council on Friday and shortly afterwards signed into law and published in the Official newspaper.
It is against this background that Macron will speak to the nation, but his speech is not expected to focus on pension reform – instead his office is briefing that this is an attempt to draw a line under the bitter battle.
Macron did give a live TV interview with two journalists on the subject of pension reform in March, in which he laid out what he said is the case for reform.
New path
So if not pension reform, then what can we expect from the speech?
Government spokesman Olivier Véran said on Saturday would be in the spirit of “pacification”.
Prime minister Elisabeth Borne said that the purpose of the speech was twofold: “calming the country on the one hand and accelerating concrete solutions [to social problems] on the other”.
Transport minister Clément Beaune said that the speech will “set the course for the coming months” and provide “a kind of roadmap for the government”.
He added: “As the president said a few weeks ago, we must project ourselves towards the future, we must project ourselves towards reforms that are important.”
New policy?
So can we expect new policy announcements?
It seems more likely that Macron will simply lay out aims and ideas, rather than any detailed new policies.
The political conversation has been dominated by pension reform for months, at the expense of anything else that Macron wants to do with the remaining four years of his term in office.
Areas for his focus suggested by Beaune are “health, school, transport, wages and the cost of living”.
Whatever Macron announces, however, he still has to contend with the problem that his party has no overall majority in parliament, making passing any kind of legislation difficult.
Will his speech really draw a line under pensions anger?
The appropriate metaphor here is probably the one about hell freezing over.
Rail unions have already announced a “day of anger” on Thursdaywith possible walk-outs and disruption to services, while other unions and leftist political leaders are focusing on May 1st – traditionally a day of marches and demos – as an outpouring of public anger over pension reform.
Where to find the speech
The speech will be broadcast on French TV channels including TF1 at 8pm French time and online via the Élysée live stream. The Local will also be running live coverage HERE.
#expect #Macrons #Monday #address #French #people