Wishes to get off to a good start. On Sunday, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron will address the Nation, hoping to turn the page on a turbulent year and begin a relaunch of his five-year term.
Against the backdrop of a major unknown: will the government reshuffle, which appears increasingly unavoidable, take place at the start of the year and with which incumbent at Matignon? Unsurprisingly, the traditional presidential address on December 31 will be placed under the sign of “unity”, summarizes a presidential advisor after the multiple fires of 2023, from the difficult pension reform to that on immigration through the riots urban events of the summer or the very controversial remarks of the Head of State on the Depardieu affair.
“The president decided to complete the immigration law (in December) in order to start again in 2024 with a new era and new momentum,” explains a majority executive. Friday, two days before his wishes, he once again endorsed, in a column in Le Monde, one of his favorite costumes, the fight against global warming, and reiterated his desire to “accelerate at the same time on the plan for ecological transition and the fight against poverty.
Future reforms revealed?
The year which opens promises to be rich in political, diplomatic and memorial meetings which the Head of State intends to take advantage of to breathe new life into an often struggling second five-year term. Challenge of the Europeans in June, with a National Rally favorite in the polls, 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, Olympic Games in Paris from July 26 to August 11: France will in many ways be at the center of international attention.
During his wishes, “the president will also give directions for major reforms to come,” notes the presidential advisor. With a flagship text on the end of life, which will be presented to the Council of Ministers before the Europeans but discussed afterwards in the Assembly, according to the majority framework. This “new course” will be “a continuation of what the Head of State has been doing for almost seven years to restore and reform France”, we nevertheless insist at the Élysée.
Emmanuel Macron should, however, reserve his announcements for the next “meeting with the Nation” which he announced for the beginning of 2024, an exercise about which he remains very mysterious for the moment, except to concede that he will also address questions of ‘education.