A major press conference in prime time on television: Emmanuel Macron presented Tuesday evening the “new course” that he is entrusting to the government of Gabriel Attal, to relaunch a struggling five-year term. The meeting was scheduled for 8:15 p.m., with the aim of reaching as many people as possible at this prime time. The Head of State made a number of announcements on the economic “rearmament” but also “civic” of France, according to his watchword, in an introductory speech lasting around twenty minutes. He then answered questions from 200 to 300 journalists in the imposing setting of the Elysée village hall. We take stock of Emmanuel Macron’s announcements for “a stronger and fairer France”
On “full employment”
The Head of State announced Tuesday evening an “Act II of the labor market reform” with “tougher rules” in the event of refusal of a job offer and “better support” for the unemployed. “The government will encourage the creation and resumption of employment with, from next spring, act two of the labor market reform launched in 2017”, which had already seen reforms to the unemployment compensation rules and the implementation of pension reform last year, he said.
Thus, there will be “stricter rules when job offers are refused and better support for our unemployed through training, but also employment support for very concrete things such as housing or transport” , he added. The objective of these future measures is “to achieve full employment”, an objective set for 2027 and corresponding to an unemployment rate of 5% compared to 7.4% currently.
On our children
Emmanuel Macron said he was convinced Tuesday evening that “that our children will live better tomorrow” than today, wishing to “make France stronger and fairer” thanks to a government that is “the tightest and youngest” in the world. Fifth Republic.
“Here I want to try to express the deep meaning of this act, to make France fundamentally stronger and fairer,” declared the President of the Republic during a press conference. “I am convinced that we have all the assets to succeed” and that “we are not finished with our history of progress and that our children will live better tomorrow than we are living today”.
On the screens (and our children)
Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to determine “the proper use of screens for our children, in families, at home and in class”, on the basis of an expert report that the head of state brought together last week .
On national education (and our children)
“From the start of the 2024 school year, civic education will be overhauled. Its hourly volume will be doubled – one hour per week from fifth grade – with support from the great founding texts of the nation”, added Emmanuel Macron, who also wants “theater to become a mandatory part of middle school from the next school year”.
Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday evening that the unique outfit for students would be tested this year in around a hundred voluntary schools and generalized in 2026 if the results are conclusive. He also wanted to restore graduation ceremonies “starting this year” at the college, “a Republican rite of unity, pride and recognition,” he declared during a press conference.
On drug trafficking
Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted ten “clearance” operations per week against drug trafficking, “in all categories of city”, in a desire to restore “order”. “We will increase the pace from next week. Ten operations of this type will be carried out every week,” the president declared during his press conference. The president also added that he wanted to fight against “radical Islam”, in particular thanks to the law which made it possible to put an end to “the system of seconded imams” since January 1.
On inequalities
Emmanuel Macron admitted Tuesday evening that he had not “radically changed (things)” against “social and family determinism”, believing that “initial inequality” is “the worst injustice”. “We do not have the same opportunities and I must clearly recognize that after six and a half years […], we have improved things but we have not radically changed them,” declared the President of the Republic during a press conference. “The future of the children of the Republic still remains too determined by the family name, the place where one was born, the environment to which one belongs. It is the worst injustice, initial inequality” while “the Republican promise is that of equality of opportunity”.
On a “big plan” against infertility
Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday the creation of a six-month “birth leave” to replace parental leave, as well as the launch of a “major plan” to fight against the “scourge” of infertility, two measures aimed at to revive the birth rate in France.
“After the extension of paternity leave, I deeply believe that the establishment of a new birth leave would be a useful element in such a strategy,” argued the Head of State during a conference of press.
Faced with increasing infertility, “a major plan to combat this scourge will be initiated to enable precisely this demographic rearmament,” added Emmanuel Macron.
On foreign doctors
Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday wanted to “regularize a number of foreign doctors who sometimes hold our healthcare services at arm’s length”, in order to fight against medical deserts. To “put an end to the scandal of medical deserts”, we must “allow simpler coordination” between community medicine and hospitals, and with the paramedical professions, but also “regularize a number of foreign doctors who sometimes keep our services at arm’s length of care, and which we leave in an administrative precariousness which is completely ineffective”, pleaded the Head of State.
On taxes
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that the tax cut of two billion euros that he plans for the middle classes would take place from 2025.
“We will have, among other things, in our financial trajectory, two billion tax cuts on our compatriots who are in these categories in 2025,” Macron announced during his press conference. This measure has been envisaged since spring 2023, but its exact timing had evolved over the months, with a possibility that it would be postponed until the end of the five-year term.