Emmanuel Macron, on the counter-attack
The French president promised that at the start of the new academic year he would present a list of major initiatives to pull the country out of the pessimism into which it seems to have settled, especially in the wake of the latest wave of incidents and riots, the growing anti-French sentiment on the African continent and the loss of political muscle, both at home and in a Europe that is fighting hard against its weakening and loss of international weight.
In a long interview with the weekly Le Point, while he is still enjoying his last few days of holidays before the 'rentrée', Macron comes out in force and unpacks his justifications and intentions on the most burning issues that, because of their connotations, go beyond France's borders.
Against the voices raised against French neo-colonialism, Macron defends France's intervention alongside African states to fight terrorism: "If we had not embarked on operations such as 'Serval' and 'Barkhane', neither Mali nor Burkina Faso would still exist, and I even doubt that Niger would still exist". In this respect, in addition to reaffirming his position of demanding "the restoration of constitutional order and the release of ousted President Mohamed Barzoum", he increases the intensity of his accusations against the military coup leaders who overthrew him on 26 July: "This coup d'état is against democracy, against the Nigerien people and against the fight against terrorism".
The tenant of the Elysée Palace is no less forceful against Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom "I will only speak again if it is useful, and even if the Russian leader is determined to prolong the disorder of the world despite sitting on the United Nations Security Council". Emmanuel Macron says he believes that "the Ukrainian counter-offensive could have the effect of activating the negotiating table". As for how he would define a good negotiation, he replies that "it will be the one that the Ukrainians want".
He also took the opportunity to respond to his predecessor, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who in an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro had expressed his conviction that France's destiny, whether it wants it or not, is linked to that of Russia. For Macron, "it is Russia that should first define the kind of partner it wants to be", letting it be understood that it is not a country whose current leader, at least, is not at all trustworthy.
On domestic issues, but which by their breadth also transcend the national sphere, the French president is also setting out his position, and reaffirming past statements that have caused him a great deal of criticism. For example, Macron spoke of "de-civilisation" when judging the wave of riots that swept the country at the beginning of the summer after the death in Nanterre of a notorious criminal shot by a policeman when he did not stop at a checkpoint. It is clear," he says, "that [in these violent riots] there is a desire for revenge against the police forces, against the state and everything it stands for. It is de-civilisation, a term that provoked an angry reaction from the opposition, especially from the extreme left of Jean-Luc Melénchon's La France Insoumise (LFI). "This is what we have seen, so now it is up to us to take care of re-civilisation". And, in the face of accusations from the far right of having behaved "laxly" in those circumstances, Macron claims to have been "implacable", and backs this up by the more than 4,000 arrests made, the thousand immediate trials held and the fact that "there are now more prisoners than ever before in France".
Faced with the wave of illegal immigration that, as in Spain, Italy and Greece, is descending on France, Emmanuel Macron intends to present a draft immigration law that will be approved with the greatest possible consensus, after the corresponding debates in the National Assembly and the Senate. But, at the same time, he threatens that, if he does not find sufficient receptiveness among the political forces, he will "resort to the instruments granted to us by the Constitution", that is, article 49.3, which allows approval by decree law, a tool that Macron has already used to approve the pension reform, an issue that also triggered a wave of protests that lasted several months, due to the resistance of the trade unions and several transversal political forces to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 years of age. The president approved the reform by decree, but it has been greatly watered down since the retirement age of 64 will not be raised to 64 until 2030.
And finally, on the model of society that Macron intends to build, the president considers that all political forces must be aware of the "serious moment our country is going through, confronted with major geopolitical, climatic and technological changes, as well as being at risk of fracture". Consequently, the president says that he will try to achieve maximum support for "everything that strengthens the independence and reconstruction of the nation and everything that sustains it: the family, the school, the universal national service, the transmission of our culture, the preservation of our language and the organisation of our institutions in all territories". And it warns of its readiness to call a referendum of the people if the politicians fail to agree on such plans for national reconstruction.