After a three month-long sequence of street protests against the pension reform that was pushed through, Emmanuel Macron is now looking to reconnect with the French people. He will travel to Alsace on Wednesday 19th April to showcase the government’s efforts to reindustrialize the country, following the Cabinet meeting. The President will visit the Mathis company factory in the small town of Muttersholtz which specializes in wooden construction. The Elysee Palace also announced that he will visit a school in Herault on Thursday to talk about education.
However, Mr Macron is expected to face hostile receptions at both locations by activists. On Wednesday, the trades unions are calling for a rally from noon in the town of Alsace, asking protesters to bring pots and lids to « be heard more clearly » and show that « the pension issue is far from over. » During Monday evening’s TV speech, rallies and casserole concerts were organised across the country, indicating that protests persist despite the pension reform being validated by the Constitutional Council and signed into law by the President.
Around 300 protesters gathered in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, on Tuesday evening for a private visit by President Macron. However, the Macron camp believes it is important for the President to be in contact with the population, even if it means being heckled. “It’s important” that he visits regions, said transport minister Clément Beaune on Wednesday, praising the President for being “on the ground”, “in contact » and « listening to a certain number of grievances too. »
Since the announcement of the reform in January, the President has remained out of the limelight at the Elysée Palace, concentrating on foreign diplomacy with the exception of only two visits, one to Jarnac (Charente) at the end of February and one near Lac de Serre-Ponçon (Hautes-Alpes) at the end of March where he was heckled by protesters opposed to raising the retirement age to 64.
The choice of the company that the President will visit on Wednesday, which has made full employment, work, reindustrialisation and decarbonisation its priorities for his second term, is not random. The timber industry is heavily involved in the decarbonisation of the building sector, making it a strategic sector for the country’s reindustrialisation plan supported by the government. The Elysée Palace said that the company “intervenes on several sites for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games” and “benefits from the plans for aid” France Relance and France 2030.
« Acceleration » seems to be the keyword for the new sequence Mr Macron now wants to open. During his address to the French people, he gave himself one hundred days to relaunch his second term. Among the priority projects he wants to complete by 14 July is a new « work-life balance » pact and progress to be made in public services such as education and healthcare.
On Tuesday, meeting with the employers’ federations, the President asked the social partners to negotiate the new pact, involving measures related to work that the government sees as complementary to the pension reform, by the end of this year.
In any case, the government’s intention is to start reforms all out, a task that seems very complicated as Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne failed to broaden her relative majority in the National Assembly over the past few weeks. She has been tasked by Emmanuel Macron to present the new government roadmap during the next cabinet meeting, scheduled for next week.
Le Monde with AFP
