Bonneuil-sur-Marne (France) (AFP)

Five months after the end of the great debate, Emmanuel Macron returned Tuesday with his mind by debating for two hours of the fight against poverty with some 200 people gathered in a warehouse in the Paris suburbs.

As a nod to the crisis of "yellow vests", the head of state was sitting in the middle of people wearing vests ... orange.

Surrounded by women and men, mostly young, working at Ateliers Sans Frontières (ASF), an association which welcomes in Bonneuil-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne) more than 120 people looking for " a stable personal and professional situation "after experiencing" accidents of life ".

For 1:30, Emmanuel Macron visits the workshops where these employees work in solidarity activities such as recycling, upgrading of used equipment or logistics, including the sneakers of the young French company Veja, which manufactures ecological footwear in Brazil.

"ASF gave me a chance after five years of unemployment," says an apprentice. "Bravo, it's a great news!", He replies to a young woman showing him his new contract alternately.

Then the president takes place in a large shed, filled with boxes to the ceiling, where patient apprentices, social experts and entrepreneurs. In front of him, a coffee table with a microphone and a glass of water, similar to the five or six hour sessions that were held from January to April in the four corners of the hexagon.

- "Kids in galley" -

For more than an hour, he does not touch the microphone. He listens to testimonials, such as that of Harmonie, a young mechanic who lost her job after becoming pregnant at the age of 18. But "I found stability, confidence in me," she says, thanks to the Red Cross insertion that offered him training before offering him a CDI as "technical supervisor" of a team of 10 men.

When he finally takes the microphone, it is to call for other interventions and give "carte blanche" to those who want to share "difficulties, blockages" and move forward "what can be done better".

André Dupon, who heads Vitamin T, is one of France's leading integration companies. "Hallucinate!", He says, regretting that it takes "ten tampons" administrative to settle each file of "kids in galley". "We must trust us!", He claims, stating that "every day, there are 130 available positions" on the site of Vitamin T.

"Thank you for this freedom of tone", declares after an hour and thirty Emmanuel Macron, getting up, microphone in hand, to advance in the middle of the assembly. "I believe very deeply that the war we must fight together against poverty, it is no longer a war of position but a war of movement," he said at the beginning of his intervention of about twenty minutes, much less than during the big debate.

He declines formulas dear to macronism: "Go faster", "closer to the field", "with more heterodox solutions" ... "I totally assume the choices" made during the first two years, adds he said, "even if they have been difficult", like the removal of thousands of jobs helped or the reform of unemployment insurance.

He says, however, "The key is to do it with people". As an echo to the "new method" of "Act II" of his quinquennium, which must be, according to the Elysee, based on "listening" and "proximity".

Emmanuel Macron intends to reissue in the coming months these long question-and-answer sessions for the upcoming reforms, starting with the retreat.

© 2019 AFP