Emmanuel Macron's speech: "We are witnessing a neomacronism"
Audio 06:21
President Emmanuel Macron during his address to the French, July 12, 2021 © Élysée
By: Florent Guignard
12 mins
Emmanuel Macron decided to use the hard way last night during his speech to talk about the health situation in France, but also to discuss the reforms eight months before the presidential election.
Interview.
Publicity
In his speech on Monday, July 12, French President Emmanuel Macron was firm on vaccination by multiplying restrictive measures: extension of the health pass to places of leisure, then to restaurants in early August, compulsory vaccination for caregivers from September 15, paid PCR tests.
The president intends to keep his objective of
"vaccinating as many people as possible everywhere at all times"
.
Analysis by Luc Rouban, research director at CNRS, teacher at Sciences Po Paris.
RFI: How do you analyze this change in tone of the Head of State
?
Unlike the month of January when he had been very wait-and-see in the face of the third wave, by refusing to confine, he is using the hard way against the threat of a fourth wave.
Luc Rouban:
I think that Emmanuel Macron is part of the perspective of the presidential election of 2022. This fairly authoritarian intervention is also part of a demand for authority that we see developing in public opinion.
Politically, he is located on this right-wing center of gravity which marks French political opinion at the moment.
In other words, he is obliged to be authoritarian because there is a demand for authority in the population.
But that's not in his nature. You have dedicated a book to Emmanuel Macron,
Le paradoxe du macronisme
, in which you notably describe a man with a very liberal philosophy.
However, these latest announcements are very authoritarian.
Indeed, but macronism has also mutated.
It was somewhat verticalized from 2018 with the difficult crisis of "yellow vests".
I think Emmanuel Macron cannot do otherwise.
Yesterday, he placed his intervention well in the economic context.
Indeed, the priority for him, in addition to the health issue, is to protect the economic recovery that France is experiencing at the moment.
So, the problem also for him is to position himself vis-à-vis his direct political competitors who are, on the one hand Marine Le Pen, on the other someone who will come from the parliamentary right and who also positions himself in the field of authority.
Emmanuel Macron can not therefore do too much otherwise.
In my opinion, the macronism of the past is dead, and now we are witnessing a neomacronism.
You say that there is a demand for authority in the country, but doesn't Emmanuel Macron run the risk of electorally paying for this form of vaccination blackmail among those who are opposed to it?
If we were perfectly cynical, I would say that those who vote now are seniors over 60-65 years old, graduates, wealthy.
They have been massively vaccinated and are waiting for everyone to be vaccinated.
They are very afraid, as we have seen in a number of reports on nursing homes, unvaccinated nursing staff.
But fear is also among those who entrust their families to nursing homes, care centers, hospitals ... Emmanuel Macron is therefore in a relatively comfortable politically position.
What will perhaps be more difficult, however, will be to implement the social reforms he envisages.
In this regard, on the form
,
should we both talk about the Covid and these reforms that Emmanuel Macron intends to revive?
Doesn't that risk confusing everything?
It was practically an electoral speech, it was a programmatic speech for 2022. Emmanuel Macron is positioning himself in the political field with a set of economic, health and social proposals.
For him, it is very important to continue to show that he is the president of reform, of progressivism, a bit like Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in his time.
And therefore to position itself in the field of the transformation of society, by telling the public that it has not abandoned its initial reform project.
Reforms to come. Because since the start of his five-year term, because of the “yellow vests” crisis and that of the Covid, he has ultimately not been able to undertake many ...
There have nevertheless been a number of reforms that have been implemented.
One that concerns few people, but very important people, is that of the abolition of the ENA and the reform of the senior civil service.
He spoke about it last night because one of his big issues is to be - and he said so - the president of meritocracy.
However, if there is one problem in France, it is that of the merit ratio.
Compared to other countries - and Cevipof surveys show it - it is in France that people questioned are the most skeptical of meritocracy.
A shame for a country that constantly promotes republican meritocracy.
The considerable stake for Emmanuel Macron is to show that he is in favor of a fairer, more equitable society.
And basically, that there is always a little the president of the right and the left.
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