Paris (France) (AFP)

While announcing an acceleration of the deconfinement, Emmanuel Macron praised Sunday for the management of the coronavirus crisis in France, of which according to him "we can be proud", a satisfaction which made the opposition jump, at two weeks municipal.

After having quickly decreed the passage of all of metropolitan France in the green zone and the reopening of bars and restaurants in Ile-de-France, the Head of State returned at length during his speech on "a first act" including the French will be able to "turn the page", and yet marked from start to finish by a general distrust of the actions of the executive.

"We do not have to be ashamed of our record. Tens of thousands of lives have been saved by our choices, by our actions," he insisted, ignoring the many critics, using a "we" encompassing both his government and the French.

"If we can reopen the country, it is because at each stage of the epidemic everyone has played their part. The Prime Minister and the government worked hard, Parliament met, the State held, elected officials on the ground are committed, "he said, referring to a kind of national unity that, however, shattered in the early days of the health crisis.

Several commissions of inquiry have since been established in Parliament, and numerous complaints have been made against the government.

Mr. Macron also recalled his announcement on April 13 of an exit from confinement from May 11 "that many" then "advised against". "We did well," he said.

"The period has shown that we have a spring, a resource. We can be proud of what has been done and of our country," he added.

Without ever pronouncing the word "masks", the lack of which at the start of the crisis is the subject of endless controversy, he nevertheless recognized "flaws, weaknesses" linked to "our dependence on other continents to provide us with certain products ".

- "Inflated with helium" -

He also listed his economic measures, estimated at 500 billion euros, including sectoral aid plans and massive partial unemployment funded by the state. "Tonight I want you to measure it as fully. In how many countries has this been done?" he launched.

Very rebounded, oppositions of all stripes immediately criticized an "exercise in self-satisfaction".

"Early surreal, E. Macron is happy with the management of the crisis. He forgets that our country will have a very high mortality per million inhabitants and one of the most violent economic recessions in the world", reacted the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau.

Still on the right, deputy LR pinned a speech "inflated with helium, already above ground, ignoring the deaths of the Covid-19 and the explosion of unemployment", believing that for the first time "a pilot, after crashing a plane, have the opportunity to invite passengers to re-embark. "

Also on the left, the Head of State made his teeth cringe, especially those of the First Secretary of the PS Olivier Faure. "Tonight what we wanted to hear was not to tell us + I was great + for the past, but to tell us how we engage the French on the road to rapid recovery", a- he attacked.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Insoumis, has denounced a "rain of truisms, stolen words and clichés", saying that the head of state "drunk", while the deputy LFI Alexis Corbière blasted a "puffy speech of self-satisfaction".

"This self-satisfaction creates a distance between the French and him," said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, president of the UDI, in contrast to the "we" proposed by Emmanuel Macron on Sunday evening.

© 2020 AFP