Wearing a mask, fight against youth unemployment, pension reform, fight against global warming, recovery plan: Emmanuel Macron has swept away many subjects and made several announcements, Tuesday July 14, during a televised interview on the occasion of the national holiday.

  • Wearing a mandatory mask in closed public places

"We do it in transport, it works very well, but it's a bit erratic in closed public places (...) it means that things have to get organized," said the head of the State, which "recommended to all our fellow citizens to wear the mask as much as possible when they are outside and, a fortiori, when they are in a closed place".

"Today we have concerns", he stressed, warning that "there are indications (that) it is re-accelerating, we have signs that it is starting again a little", for example the contamination rate per infected person has recently risen slightly above 1 (an infected person contaminates more than another person, so the epidemic is increasing).

Recalling that "the best prevention is barrier gestures", Emmanuel Macron said "wishes (r) that in the coming weeks we make mandatory the mask in all closed public places (...) for example from the 1st August".

  • Back to school "almost normal"

The return of 12 million French students in September will be "as normal as possible", insisted the president, but "obviously", he said, "if there was an acceleration (of the virus) during the In August, we will have to review this start of the school year. That is not what I want, if we do things right we will have a slightly different back to school, even more demanding. "

The Ministry of Education published a circular on July 10 to guide the start of the new school year, which will be carried out under the same sanitary conditions as those applied at the end of the school year.

"All students are welcomed during school time," said the circular. "Barrier gestures, hand hygiene, wearing a mask for adults and students over 11 years old when the distance rules cannot be respected in confined spaces as well as in school transport, cleaning and ventilation of premises", is it detailed.

  • Unemployment: schemes for young people

The government will set up an "exceptional exemption from charges for young people", intended in particular to encourage the hiring of employees with "low qualifications, up to 1.6 times the minimum wage," announced Emmanuel Macron.

This device, intended to make youth "the priority of this revival", is "exceptional because it will last one to two years, we will assess it," said the President of the Republic, who also announced the '' opening 200,000 places in higher qualifying training to allow young people to continue their studies a bit and creating 300,000 integration projects and contracts for young people who are out of work.

  • "At least 100 billion" euros for the recovery plan

The recovery plan for the French economy will represent "at least 100 billion euros", in addition to the 460 billion already committed in sectoral measures and support for the economy since the beginning of the epidemic, announced Emmanuel Macron.

"We are putting with this recovery plan, in addition to this money already put, at least 100 billion to make the industrial, ecological, local, cultural and educational recovery. I am convinced that we can build a different country by ten years, "said the President of the Republic.

Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, ruled out financing the explosion in public spending by raising taxes. "There is a fiscal trajectory that has been decided, voted by the national representation, it is the one that will be held," he said, adding that "we cannot solve a crisis like this by increasing Taxes".

  • Pension reform

The head of state confirmed his intention to put the much-contested pension reform "on the job" by the end of his five-year term. The new Prime Minister, Jean Castex, will bring together the social partners on Friday to "put everything on the table", he said, defending a reform which he considers "just".

"It may be necessary to give ourselves a little more time, to coordinate it better, we must put it back on the book," he said of a reform challenged for weeks last winter and that the social partners are reluctant to take over.

  • Fight against global warming

Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to include "the fight against global warming" in the Constitution "as soon as possible", a request made by the Citizen's Climate Convention and for which he is in favor of the organization of a referendum. But, he said, "there must first be a vote by the Assembly and then the Senate in conforming terms (...). At that time, there may be or a congress or a referendum. "

The President of the Republic also announced several projects aimed at reducing France's carbon footprint. In particular, it wishes to "massively redevelop" rail freight, night trains and short lines.

He also said he wanted to launch a "major energy renovation program" for schools and nursing homes at first, as part of the economic recovery plan. "We have to go back, and this recovery plan is the opportunity, in building a model that is at the same time ecological, industrial and environmental," he said.

With AFP and Reuters

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