“We must all be prepared for (the war) to last. The summer and the beginning of autumn will undoubtedly be very hard,” said the president, referring to the “war economy” situation in which the country faces, during his July 14 interview.
“The real change of the last few days (…) is the Russian decision to start cutting off the gas”, he added in reference to the closure of the Russian Nord Stream gas pipeline to Europe, officially for reasons of maintenance.
“Russia uses energy, as it uses food, as a weapon of war,” asserted the head of state. “We must now prepare for a scenario where we have to do without Russian gas entirely,” he warned.
Emmanuel Macron revived for the second time, after 2020, with the tradition of the July 14 interview observed by his predecessors.
It was also and above all his first television interview since his re-election in April and the legislative elections, which saw him lose his absolute majority in the National Assembly in June.
The president has tried to erase the feeling of uncertainty left by this start of the second five-year term, with the late appointment of the government of Elisabeth Borne, the choice not to really campaign in the legislative elections and in the end the loss of the absolute majority. .
– Value “work” –
After the bill on measures to support purchasing power, the first act of the five-year term, currently being examined in the Assembly, he announced a text of a law on labor reform “as of this summer”.
This text, which will be the subject of “discussions with the social partners”, will concern unemployment insurance but also training, including seniors, he detailed, also citing a reform of the RSA, of “France Labour” and vocational high school.
“The heart of the battle that I want to lead in the coming years is full employment,” he insisted, promising to “work faster and harder”.
Noting the difficulties of many sectors to recruit, he said “hear” those who can “go to another profession” but not those who intend above all “to benefit from national solidarity”. “There is no social model if there is no work to finance it”.
So many comments greeted by a barrage on the left: “Not a word about the obligation to increase salaries” (Julien Bayou, EELV), “we were not elected for that” (Alexis Corbière, LFI) “his outstretched hand does not concern us” (Olivier Faure, PS).
Emmanuel Macron also called for “responsible compromises” on the controversial pension reform with a view to its entry into force in the summer of 2023, reaffirming that the French should “work longer”.
In the absence of a declared coalition, he intends to wrest a majority, text by text, and put the oppositions before their “responsibilities”.
– More Vulcan than Jupiter –
Deploring a “night heat stroke” after the vote of deputies LFI, RN and LR against a health pass at the borders, he said he was confident that in the end, it is “collective responsibility that will prevail”.
And if this is not the case, “I will go before the French, I will submit projects to them, I will call for their choice”, he launched in reference to a possible recourse to a referendum or to the dissolution of the Assembly.
“No, the vote of the national representation is never a nocturnal heat stroke. It is the voice of the French in their diversity”, replied Olivier Marleix, president of the group Les Républicains in the National Assembly.
“Those who thought that Emmanuel Macron could change were wrong. He is obtuse, stubborn, he will never change,” added Laurent Jacobelli, National Rally deputy.
Emmanuel Macron, who will not be able to run again in 2027, finally confided “to think about the trace that we leave in history” and to want “to be even more demanding with himself” during his second five-year term.
He also said he was “more Vulcan, that is to say at the forge” than Jupiter, ensuring that he had never “claimed this mythological comparison” with the god of Roman gods.
