The head of state, determined to regain the initiative, gave himself Monday "100 days" to act "in the service of the France".

He welcomed at 11:00 representatives of the employers quite circumspect about the objective of completing measures by July 14.

"Social dialogue takes time," said Monday the president of the Medef Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, suggesting that the employers would not let themselves be imposed a calendar.

The unions, which declined the invitation, are hoping for a show of force in the streets on May 1, and have asked for a "period of decency" before possibly returning to negotiate.

But that did not prevent Mr. Macron from giving them their roadmap on Tuesday.

They will also have to embark on negotiations - also with local authorities - to reach "by the summer" a "bill" on vocational schools.

The tenors of the government, who raked the morning radio and TV Tuesday, had begun very early this offensive to end the crisis.

Even on debt

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, wanted "a strong bill" on immigration, postponed because of social protest and in the absence of guarantee of the LR vote. "I'm sure with the Republicans we can agree on this issue," he said.

LR votes had however been missing for the bill raising the legal retirement age to 64 years. The executive had to engage the responsibility of the government, saved by nine votes.

The Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal arrives at the Elysee, on March 27, 2023 in Paris © Ludovic MARIN / AFP / Archives

For his part, Budget Minister Gabriel Attal pledged to "continue to build a Marshall Plan for the middle classes", with measures on wages and public services.

Even on the debt, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced that he intended to "accelerate the pace of deleveraging" of the France to avoid "throwing money out the window" in a period of sharp rise in interest rates.

On Monday evening, the President of the Republic had also mentioned as projects health, education or the fight against delinquency and fraud.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will present her roadmap next week in the Council of Ministers, according to her entourage.

President Emmanuel Macron during a televised address at the Elysee Palace on April 17, 2023 in Paris © Ludovic MARIN / AFP

A way to occupy the field to finally pass after a second five-year term hampered by the political and social crisis of pensions?

"Restricting the concerns of the French to the sole issue of pensions would be missing the point," said government spokesman Olivier Véran, summing up the state of mind of an executive who dreams of closing this parenthesis.

"Social balance of power"

Because the protest remains strong despite the validation of the law by the Constitutional Council on Friday and its promulgation in the aftermath.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, 24,000 people demonstrated Monday night in France during President Macron's speech, banging on pots and pans. In Lyon, Caen or Paris, some gatherings have led to damage and 60 people have been arrested, the same source said.

Protest against the pension reform during President Emmanuel Macron's speech on April 17, 2023 in Paris © Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP

Nearly 15.1 million viewers according to Mediamétrie watched the president, a follower of this type of speech, without questions or contradictions.

Immediately after his speech, the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, had castigated "a speech of the method for a tenth time but nothing concrete". "We don't respond when we are whistled," he said.

"In the projects he lists us I see either very concrete things that divide deeply," such as the reform of vocational schools or the RSA, or points "totally obscure and very general" as on wages, criticized his counterpart at the CGT Sophie Binet.

The "social balance of power" during the May 1st mobilization will be crucial, abounded Clémentine Autain (LFI). "He must be the only one in France to believe that this intervention (...) will serve something," said Jean-Philippe Tanguy (RN) on France Inter.

© 2023 AFP