Marseilles (AFP)

Emmanuel Macron went to the National Congress of Firefighters in Marseille on Saturday, where he was to give a speech at the end of the morning, the day after a demonstration by firefighters in Paris to obtain more resources.

After reviewing the firefighters on Saturday morning, in front of the Palais des Congrès de Marseille, in Parc Chanot, the President of the Republic began a visit to the stands, AFP noted.

In particular, he met a 74-year-old former firefighter, severely burned, who expressed his difficulties to him.

"I retain that you would like to have a single number, to have easier access to administrative services, we will look with the minister. You still have a strange energy," replied the president.

Mr. Macron also greeted the new recruits of the firefighters, who this year are holding a congress open to the general public.

Among the 250,000 firefighters in France, 80% are volunteers.

Volunteers who are waiting for a gesture from the State towards them.

This visit is an opportunity for Emmanuel Macron to respect the tradition of presidents of attending their congress once during the term of office.

The Head of State arrived in Marseille on Friday at the very end of the afternoon, for a first progress report on the "Marseille en grand" plan that he had announced on September 2, in order to come to the help from a city which is in "exceptional difficulties", in its own words, with dilapidated schools and a largely inadequate public transport network.

"The difficulties here are so exceptional and the potentials so great that there is something to be invented," the head of state had launched Friday evening, in the midst of a hundred young people and entrepreneurs, before leaving for a dinner with the socialist mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan, the LR president of the metropolis Martine Vassal, and representatives of the prefecture and the region.

This dinner of more than four hours was "fruitful" according to the entourage of Benoît Payan on Saturday morning at AFP: it allowed "to work well and to address points of detail".

Friday morning, before the arrival of the President of the Republic, Benoît Payan had repeated to wait for answers from the government, in particular on his school renovation plan estimated at 1.2 billion euros.

His entourage did not specify on Saturday whether things had progressed on this file.

None of the participants at this dinner had yet officially expressed themselves on Saturday morning.

© 2021 AFP