In the newspaper Pif, the president does not rule out relying on voters in case of "huge crisis"

Europe 1 with AFP 15:39 pm, March 29, 2023

In case of "huge crisis", the head of state can always rely on voters: Emmanuel Macron, in full social anger against his pension reform, answered questions from Pif readers, assuring of his frustration when things are "not fast enough". The president's speech has been rare since the presentation, on January 10, of the flagship project of his second five-year term. But he agreed to speak for the famous dog's 75th birthday, an interview conducted Feb. 20 with young readers and aired Wednesday.

"Do not depend on each other's parties"

His words have a particular resonance in the flammable situation that the country has been experiencing since the trigger, on March 16, of 49.3 to pass the pension reform. "Can you leave your post in the middle of your mandate, and how would it be if you left it?" asked Mélina, a fourth-grader, during a meeting at the Elysee. "If you leave it, it is because there can be a huge crisis and you are prevented," Macron replied. "At that moment, you hand over your mandate to the French, and the people vote again."

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For the time being, the Head of State is not considering a referendum on pensions or dissolution of the National Assembly and a resignation seems even more unlikely. Pressed to give advice to who would like to become president, Emmanuel Macron insists: "The best way to achieve it is to make up your own mind about things and not to depend on each other's parties." Emmanuel Macron does not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly. And the pension reform crystallizes the discontent around his person. What does he like about his "job"? "The exchange, the meeting, trying to understand what works and what does not work in the big choices I implement".

His critics highlight his inflexibility on pensions, accusing him of "playing the rot" of the situation. Either "you were able to bring solutions" and it is "satisfactory", says Emmanuel Macron. "Either it's not, and it's the moments that affect you too, that are frustrating because you see that things are not going fast enough." In the relationship between a president and the French, there can be "anger", "joy", "but there is no indifference", he sketches again.

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Pif, relaunched in 2020 after two resurrections

Pif, an emblematic figure in the youth press, was created in 1948 by the Spanish cartoonist José Cabrero Arnal for the communist daily L'Humanité. The magazine Pif Gadget was founded in 1969, under the aegis of the Communist Party, before disappearing in 1993. After two first resurrections, it was relaunched in 2020, under the name of Pif, headed by Nicolas Sarkozy's former minister, Frédéric Lefebvre.