Emmanuel Macron is set to address his majority at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday March 21, promising to get things back on track. The assembled deputies are exhausted following weeks of controversy, while ministers are concerned by the use of 49.3 to push through the pension reform. The President admits that he is aiming to set course again, but this will not be immediate. He eludes that it will be “by summer” before adding that “anger makes everything inaudible”. To avoid the impression of being head of state locked in his ivory tower, Macron intends to travel. However, advisers are yet to resolve the dilemma of how to handle the political unrest currently afflicting the country.
On Thursday March 30, Macron will travel to Savines-le-Lac in the Hautes-Alpes, where he will present his government’s “water plan” in front of the Serre-Ponçon lake, the first freshwater reserve in Western Europe, which has been badly affected by drought. According to the Elysée, this represents “a turning point in our approach” that aims to prepare for the summer of 2023 and sobriety by 2030. Macron hopes to focus his attention on other themes, such as environmental issues, which will allow him to project himself into the future while appealing to the daily concerns of French citizens. Ecological planning is a major challenge for his second term, and allows Macron to speak to young people who are particularly concerned about environmental issues.
Tuesday March 21, at the start of the evening, Emmanuel Macron speaks at the Elysee Palace in front of his majority. The deputies are exhausted by incandescent weeks in the National Assembly. Ministers are petrified by the images of the spontaneous movements caused by the use of 49.3 to push through the pension reform. The President of the Republic promises to set the course again. But not immediately, later. “By Summer”he eludes, before letting go: “Anger makes everything inaudible. »
As often when he only has the choice between bad solutions, he tries to stop time. At the risk of giving the impression of a palace “bunkerized” and a locked up head of state “in his ivory tower”. “Not going out for three weeks would be catastrophic, it would have a Baden Baden side”, notes one of his relatives. So, from the weekend, the Elysée begins to consider a trip.
But how to blacken the political pages of a suspended time, oscillating between political paralysis and social instability? For a few days, the advisers racked their brains to resolve the many dilemmas: showing themselves but not exposing themselves to possible disputes, responding to the anxieties of the ” everyday life ” but avoid questions about pensions, talk about the future when the present monopolizes the attention…
“A turning point in our approach”
Thursday, March 30, the Head of State will therefore go to Savines-le-Lac (Hautes-Alpes). In front of the Serre-Ponçon lake, the first freshwater reserve in Western Europe very affected by drought, he will present his government’s “water plan”, “a turning point in our approach”, according to the Elysée, which aims to prepare for the summer of 2023 and sobriety by 2030. A speech announced on Wednesday, at the last minute. Why take hold of it at this time? “He wishes to bring to his level the major strategic orientations of ecological planningdeciphers his entourage. Pensions are a subject of tension. But the thirty-two days without rain this winter have affected many French people too. »
While the unions have announced a new day of mobilization on Thursday April 6, the Head of State hopes to find a space to address other themes. At the risk of opening a new debate on water management, five days after violent clashes between the police and radical activists around the mega-basin project in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres).
This choice is not trivial. To get out of the quagmire of the pension reform, the President of the Republic wants, in the coming months, to concentrate on projects that allow him to project himself into the future and to evoke the daily life of the French, one of the executive communication obsessions. Ecological planning, one of the major challenges of the second five-year term, also makes it possible to speak to a section of young people, who are very concerned about this “fight of the century”in the words of Emmanuel Macron, during his campaign speech in Marseille, April 16, 2022.
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In conclusion, Emmanuel Macron’s presidency is facing numerous challenges, from tension surrounding the use of 49.3 to push through pension reform, social instability, and the ever-increasing threat of drought. However, in the face of all these challenges, Macron is determined to set the course again and project himself into the future. By concentrating on ecological planning and drawing attention to the daily lives of French citizens, Macron hopes to find a way out of the quagmire and regain public confidence. Time will tell whether his approach will yield fruitful results or whether the challenges he faces will prove insurmountable.