Be careful of speeding on icy roads. A week after his appointment to Matignon, Gabriel Attal wants to move quickly and take “strong measures”, but he is aware of being on slippery ground.
“The French would forgive us neither inaction nor any form of weakness. So I want to step on the accelerator with strong measures,” declared the Prime Minister in front of the Renaissance, Modem and Horizons deputies, participants at the meeting reported.
The new head of government, however, said he was “perfectly lucid” about the “difficult context” in which he was appointed, “with uncertain economic prospects” and “a political context […] tense, even more so with the upcoming European elections, where the oppositions will do even fewer gifts.”
“Courageous” but controversial decisions
He wanted to build his general policy declaration (DPG) “with” parliamentarians and the French “through a series of trips”. “We must take a certain number of directions, courageous decisions which will give rise to debate and controversy, but which are in line with our values, our DNA,” he underlined.
“There is a major expectation in our country around the valorization of work” and French people who earn “above what you need to have to be able to benefit from aid and below what you need to have to be able to to get by on their own.”
Work, public services, school, safety
Gabriel Attal took the opportunity to outline some of his main orientations, such as “continuing to encourage work” because it “allows us to finance our social model, our public services and solidarity”. He also placed emphasis on “public services” which he wants to be “always more efficient”.
Regarding the school, he intends to “assume this policy of high standards and excellence on all levels”. On health, he judged that “we probably need to go a step further”. In terms of security, he wanted to “show that we are a society of rights and duties”, of “respect for authority”, even if “it is probably the most difficult because it cannot be resolved by a law, a decree or an order”.
When it comes to climate, “we have to be extremely offensive” and “not let our opposition explain that they are more ambitious than us”. “Leaving our country to extremes that have only one ambition, taking power to keep power and making money from the difficulties that the French are experiencing, that would not be entirely patriotic,” he concluded. .