Paris (AFP)

The Council of Ministers launches on Wednesday the return to politics, for the executive who sharpens new reforms and for oppositions that want to get back on the march, when is already looming the battle of the municipal.

Scalded by the months of protesting "yellow vests", Emmanuel Macron and his government will try to better accept a series of delicate reforms.

Leading the way, the opening of the PMA for all and the unification of pension plans, with a "pivotal" age of departure at full rate pushed back to 64 years.

With an upturn in popularity rising to over 30%, the executive couple seems in a better position to continue its program. Above all, it can boast of keeping its promises after the fall in unemployment in the second quarter to 8.5%, its lowest level in ten years.

Arriving in 2nd place but just behind the RN, the presidential party fate reinforced an honorable score of 22.4% in the European May, when all the other parties, LR, PS and France Insoumise, were rolled. The "yellow vests" have failed in the ballot boxes and are barely able to mobilize.

Now more cautious, Emmanuel Macron wants to avoid polemical spreads that turn public opinion. He was very discreet during his three weeks of summer retreat at Fort Brégançon.

Several warning signs are still on, on new fronts such as ecology or sovereignty, which were already at the center of the European campaign.

At the crossroads of these two concerns, the free trade agreement with Canada (Ceta), ratified by LREM MPs in July, not only brought the oppositions together but also divided the majority: the voices of some 60 LREM deputies were missing.

In the name of Ceta, many walking MPs also saw their permanence degraded this summer by farmers, "yellow vests" or environmentalists.

- Social return -

The defense of the environment has also been reflected in the polls, giving the Greens a surprise score of more than 13% in Europe. EELV now feels "legitimate and credible to govern" and hopes to transform the test to municipal.

LR, La France Insoumise, like the PS and the various leftist groups, all rolled to the Europeans, seek them to find a second wind.

The PS (6.3% in Europe) holds a summer university renamed "Campus", from August 23 to 25 in La Rochelle, with a desire to "open" vis-à-vis other leftist formations. The insubordinate French summer school is scheduled for August 22-25.

At LR, after the cold shower of 8.2% in May, you must first choose a new chef. Three candidates are in the running, Christian Jacob, president of the LR deputies in the Assembly, and two ambitious quadras, Julien Aubert and Guillaume Larrivé.

The government must also prepare for a hectic social re-entry.

Already blasted by the RN, the law on bioethics could wake up the conservative camp. About twenty associations announced a demonstration of protest on October 6 in Paris.

The pension reform, presented at the beginning of the summer, was unanimously rejected by the unions. The government wants to give itself time by opening a new phase of consultation but FO and CGT will mobilize on 21 and 24 September.

Finally, the civil service reform, promulgated in early August, which the unions perceive as a "bad move", must be clarified on September 5.

Other conflicts are brewing among emergency doctors and teachers after the reform of high school and baccalaureate.

This government comeback comes before a major diplomatic event of the quinquennium: the organization of the G7 Biarritz, preceded by a battery of appointments. After Vladimir Putin in Brégançon Monday, Emmanuel Macron successively hosts on Thursday the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the head of the Greek government Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He could also receive on Friday the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

© 2019 AFP