"Be proud to be born in the Creuse! Be confident and conquerors", launched the Head of State to the students of the agricultural school of Ahun, a village of 1,500 inhabitants in the middle of the meadows.

"Your generation is that of the reconquest of rurality, your future is not to flee!".

These young people questioned him frankly about their many difficulties, similar to those mentioned during the great debate but aggravated by the Covid. Isolation, white areas, employment problems, lack of transport and infrastructure, expensive permits, impression of a "fog"... "I want to make my life in the Creuse, but it's not easy" , admits Mathieu, a 16-year-old high school student, complaining about the dilapidated state of the gymnasiums or swimming pools.

A student recounts having "walked five kilometers, in winter, in the rain" because her school bus had not passed". Others testify to the "dropout" experienced since the start of the Covid because "the distance was great complicated, we don't have a network everywhere". "It isolates us even more", laments Arnaud, in terminal. Several evoke cases of depression, addictions, mental health problems.

Florian, 20, reminded the president of one of his most controversial "little phrases": "You say + cross the street to find work +, but you have a Stop sign in front of you, which tells you that you don't have enough working time, no professional experience, we're going in circles".

"Many sectors offer jobs, so normally, when you have good will...", justified Emmanuel Macron, "that's a bit like what I was saying with this formula, which was more suited to Paris, where I was at that time than here, but which was totally true in Paris!".

The Head of State also denied wanting to increase university registration fees, after recent remarks that unleashed his opponents.

"I never said that," he exclaimed, explaining that he did not want to "charge" students but was considering the creation of paid professional training in universities.

“We have to collectively get out of negative” speeches, pleaded Emmanuel Macron, recalling having devoted more than 8.5 billion euros to the rural world.

"It's further away, there's more loneliness, it's less well connected, there are health problems, you have to pull out all the stops to correct it, but there are tremendous strengths" in rural areas.

"Answer to Next Episode"

Visiting the high school barn, where some forty Limousin cows are quietly ruminating, Emmanuel Macron bursts out laughing when Tom, 19, asks him the question that agitates the political class 76 days before the election: is he or not candidate for a new term at the Elysée?

"I will announce my decision in due time", "response to the next episode!", Launches the president.

By repeating his intention to "continue to (fight) until the end because we still have a lot of things to do. If everything had been settled... This is not the case!".

He congratulates Tom for having registered on the electoral lists: "It is a right which has been acquired, and which is a form of duty. And therefore to be interested in the substance of the programs, of the proposals of each other, and to do your choice of free citizens, I think it is essential".

Emmanuel Macron dialogues with young people from an agricultural high school in Ahun, in Creuse, on January 24, 2022 Ludovic MARIN POOL / AFP

Another sensitive subject, the low prices paid to farmers, still under pressure from distributors.

The Head of State has promised an impact of the Egalim2 law, which is currently coming into force after a first law without much result.

Accompanied by four ministers, Emmanuel Macron was expected in the afternoon in Bourganeuf to discuss with health professionals and talk about medical deserts, another extremely sensitive subject of the campaign.

© 2022 AFP