Covid-19 in France: Emmanuel Macron expected at the turn

Text by: Anthony Lattier Follow

Almost a month after the start of "movement restrictions" to fight the coronavirus epidemic, Emmanuel Macron will speak on Monday evening on television and radio from the Élysée Palace. This third speech by the president aims first to endorse the extension of the confinement. Wearing a mask, testing policy, digital tracing ...: the Head of State will also have to provide concrete and precise answers to convince.

Publicity

The political class calls Emmanuel Macron to a " speech of truth ". " The president must not communicate, he must speak the truth," believes the leader of the right in the Senate Bruno Retailleau. I expect useful and precise communication from him. " Public opinion wants extremely concrete and practical answers rather than a big speech on what we will do in the post-crisis, " adds Bruno Cautrès. The researcher at Cévipof, the Political Research Center of Sciences-Po, details: “ Where are we with mask deliveries and stocks of masks available? Will wearing a mask be recommended? What does the president tell us, who has consulted a lot in recent days, about the state of the file on the issue of tests? And also what does he tell us about the research of Professor Raoult whom he met in Marseille last Thursday and whose work is so much debated in our country. "

Learning from the start of the crisis

" Clarity " and " frankness " is also what environmental MEP David Cormand expects, for whom " so far, we have had the impression that the government was making a virtue of losses ". Notably on the lack of masks: “When there were no masks, it was for the authorities a good reason to say that we did not need them. The reality was that we didn't have it and that's why we said we didn't need it! I'm not asking for a mea culpa from Emmanuel Macron. It is not a question of making a public self-criticism but of telling the truth because that is what creates confidence. "

Bruno Retailleau is more critical: “ The start of the crisis was badly anticipated. Its management has been chaotic, and even cacophonic in government communication. I am not lecturing because the moment is serious, but the president must draw the conclusions from this first phase so that we have the feeling that, from now on, he will try to be one step ahead. »A trial in unpreparedness which the executive defends, recalling the unprecedented conditions of the onset of this crisis and especially the hour by hour evolution of known information on the virus. Prime Minister Édouard Philippe regularly repeats that he does not know everything and that he does not have the answers to all the questions that French people are asking.

A president less present at the forefront

After several close talks, Emmanuel Macron has chosen to express himself a little less, even if he continues his visits in the field (hospitals, retirement homes, laboratories, etc.). criticism from the opposition, which judges that these displacements blur the government's communication on containment. These criticisms are unfounded, said MP La République en Marche Laurent Saint-Martin. For him, Emmanuel Macron found the right tempo in these interventions and his travels: " The president must make regular progress points, otherwise it would seem that he is not worried more than that of the crisis and he remains locked up in his office. However, he consults, he travels, he sees health professionals, and he must therefore report to the French. "

The president as “ father of the nation ” and the Prime Minister “ with coal ”. For Bruno Cautrès, we are witnessing a return to a classic distribution of roles under the Fifth Republic. “ For the past ten days, there has been a change in the executive's communication with a Prime Minister who is more at the forefront. The fact that we have a word from the Head of State today when he is going to announce a third period of confinement seems to me a good thing. And what will happen after the deconfinement? The executive is already working on the new priorities for the end of the five-year term. But the promised " break decisions " will not be announced tonight.

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• France
• Coronavirus
• Emmanuel Macron
• Containment

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