It is often said that a newly elected president enjoys a "state of grace" that would last a hundred days. By giving himself "100 days of appeasement, unity, ambition and action in the service of the France", Monday, April 17, during his televised address to respond to the political and social crisis caused by the pension reform, Emmanuel Macron gave the impression of wanting to start his five-year term from scratch.

The President of the Republic presented himself to the French as the leader of the responsible nation, repeating once again that his pension reform was essential and that he had no other solution than to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64. "So these changes were necessary and are an effort, it's true," he acknowledged.

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Macron also admitted that his reform was not accepted by the French, who expressed work-related "anger" in the streets. "No one, least of all me, can remain deaf to this demand for social justice and the renewal of our democratic life," he continued.

The French who dreamed of a withdrawal of the reform or hoped for strong announcements on purchasing power or institutions for a greater role of Parliament and more direct democracy quickly became disillusioned.

"Rebuilding and regaining the momentum of our nation"

As a roadmap, the head of state said he wanted to "rebuild and regain the momentum of our nation" – a phrase that also seemed to have been written to describe its own situation – thanks to three projects: work, the republican and democratic order, progress to live better.

What do these projects consist of? It is difficult to know as the head of state has remained vague, notably on his "new pact of life at work" or on his "new productive and ecological model". To know exactly what it is, we will have to wait for future announcements from Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, confirmed in her post. The same applies to public services, in which investments have been promised, particularly in education and health.

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Enough to dispel the concerns of the French? "For the approximately 10 million of you who live in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, in the most difficult rural areas, in our overseas territories, we will again find concrete solutions to improve daily life," Macron tried to reassure.

Concrete for the right-wing electorate

The announcements dear to the right-wing electorate, on the other hand, were much more precise. To enforce order, the president announced the recruitment of "more than 10,000 magistrates and agents" and the creation of "200 gendarmerie brigades in our countryside". He also promised "strong announcements from the beginning of May" to fight against "all forms of delinquency" and "all fraud, whether social or fiscal", while promising to strengthen "the control of illegal immigration".

Emmanuel Macron also recalled that he intended to move forward with two reforms presented during last year's presidential campaign: that of the vocational high school and that of the conditioned RSA. Two proposals that should not help him reconcile with the trade unions, which have strongly criticized these measures, notably qualified as "forced labour" by the CGT.

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Regardless, Emmanuel Macron seems to think that nothing is impossible for him. Recalling his promise, in 2019, to rebuild Notre-Dame in five years and the skeptical comments it had aroused, the president said that an "untenable course" could be kept thanks to the "will" and "mobilization of all".

At the very moment he was uttering these words, concerts of pots and pans gathered thousands of people in front of many town halls and prefectures around the France, as if to signal to him that the mobilization against the pension reform was not about to die down and that the anger would not subside in 100 days.

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