Paris (France) (AFP)

How to revive the economy? Is a "second wave" coming? Should the pension reform be revived? What measures for ecology? And why Jean Castex in Matignon? Emmanuel Macron returns to the traditional July 14 interview to trace the last "600 days" of the quinquennium.

Around 1:10 pm, after a reduced military ceremony due to the new coronavirus, the Head of State will be interviewed live for 45 minutes, by Léa Salamé and Gilles Bouleau, on TF1, France 2 and France Inter. Like the kick-off of the last part of the quinquennium, less than two years from the presidential election.

He should also mention the Ségur de la santé, whose wage agreements will be signed on Monday afternoon in Matignon, and also the 500 billion euro European plan which he will defend at the European Council on Thursday and Friday. And finally to present its new "government of combat and results".

Very worried about the economic depression and the rise in unemployment, the French will especially wait for details on the recovery plan promised for September and how to finance it, which should include aid for the employment of young people, incentives to relocate industries, or aid for the renovation of buildings.

The opposition already criticizes a lack of means, like the president of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertand who, in the Journal du dimanche, asked to "go much faster" and regretted that the "plan" was still not announced massive for young people "promised by the President.

A minister said on Sunday that building and renovation could benefit from 4 to 5 billion euros.

Mr. Macron will also have to explain how he intends to both "reinvent himself" and get his program upset by the epidemic back on track. Including the pension reform, which he suspended at the start of confinement but has since announced plans to finalize, despite opposition from unions and employers, at the risk of resuscitating a social crisis.

He who has made gender equality the main cause of his five-year term will also have to respond to criticism in France and abroad on the appointments of Gérald Darmanin to the Interior and Eric Dupond-Moretti to Justice, one because he is the subject of a rape complaint, the other for having affirmed that women "regret not being whistled any more".

The head of state will also be able to make known his intentions on ecological measures that could be subject to a referendum, a hypothesis that he raised before the Citizen's Climate Convention.

- Back to the classic -

This interview comes a week after the appointment of a new government, renewed for a third, fruit of political negotiations until the last moment and which offers with Mr. Castex a much more traditional image than at the start of the five-year term.

As if to confirm the end of audacious beginnings, the staffing of ministerial offices, which Mr. Macron had drastically reduced to ten maximum, will be authorized to increase to fifteen.

He also returns to a very classic posture with this format of questions and answers of July 14, invented by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and which he had however decided to remove soon after his election.

Since the crisis of the new coronavirus, Mr. Macron has preferred solemn addresses, first to announce the confinement, then the deconfinement, then the lifting of most of the last bans.

It is only after this speech that Mr. Castex can present his program to parliamentarians, Wednesday in the National Assembly, Thursday in the Senate. The new Prime Minister had indeed announced a little quickly that he would make his general policy statement at the beginning of July, but the Elysée Palace announced that it would only speak after the President.

A report that clearly shows that Mr. Castex will only decline the roadmap of the Head of State.

Beforehand, the President will deliver his equally traditional speech to the armies on Monday evening at the Hôtel de Brienne, seat of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, in particular to thank the soldiers who participated in the fight against the epidemic.

© 2020 AFP