Emmanuel Macron will give an interview on Monday to the 1:00 p.m. television news of TF1 and France 2, from Nouméa where he is on the move, the channels announced in a press release on Saturday.
This interview comes after the reshuffle Thursday of part of the government, and after the Head of State drew up Friday in the preamble to the Council of Ministers an initial assessment of the “100 days” decreed after the highly disputed pension crisis. The president is due to fly away on Sunday for a week in Oceania, with stops in New Caledonia, then in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
11 changes in the government team
He has just completed a long political streak in France, after letting the suspense hover for several weeks over the maintenance at Matignon of Élisabeth Borne, to whom he finally renewed “with clarity” his “confidence”.
After intense negotiations, Emmanuel Macron also made 11 changes to the government team, with the entry of eight new ministers and the promotion to Education of Gabriel Attal, who will have to prepare for the start of the school year.
The opportunity to send a warning to his ministers on Friday, whom he asked to be “exemplary” and above all to bring “efficiency” rather than “speaking in the post”. Because for him, “a good part of the democratic crisis is linked to the fact that decisions do not arrive quickly enough in the lives of our compatriots”.
On the “100 days”, supposed to bring “appeasement” to the country after the pension crisis, the head of state drew a positive assessment of several major axes such as work, republican order or public services. With a “clear course” in watermark, he affirms, “that of the independence of the country”, thus declining his mantra around the sovereignty of France.
Budgeting, a main challenge
But he was also confronted at the end of June – beginning of July with several nights of urban riots, following the death of young Nahel killed by a policeman in Nanterre. In this regard, Mr. Macron renewed his promise to provide “in-depth answers”, referring to the start of the school year.
As the summer break looms, and a last Council of Ministers on Wednesday by videoconference before the return of this exercise on August 23, the executive has yet to put the finishing touches to the presentation of its “ecological planning”, which will be unveiled at the end of August.
But the main challenge ahead is the preparation of the budget, a challenge that is as much technical as it is political. The president has already warned that in terms of public finances, the “framework” would be “demanding” and that “order” would prevail.
He would thus join a strong demand from the Republicans, a pivotal group in the Assembly where the executive does not have an absolute majority. Because the LRs are already raising the specter of a motion of censure likely to overthrow the government if they consider the budget too lax.