The day after his televised address intended to trigger a new phase of his five-year term, the president travels to the Bas-Rhin, for the visit of a factory in the small town of Muttersholtz. Then he will go to the Hérault on Thursday to talk about education.

The inter-union has already called in a statement for a rally at noon in the Alsatian locality and asked the demonstrators to bring pots or pans or lids to "make themselves heard" and show that "the page pensions is far from being turned".

During his televised address, rallies and concerts of pots and pans were also organized throughout the country, a sign of a protest that continues despite the validation of the reform by the Constitutional Council at the end of last week and its promulgation.

In Paris, opponents of the pension reform organize a concert of pots and pans during Emmanuel Macron's televised address, April 17, 2023 © Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP / Archives

Also on Tuesday evening, a private trip by the head of state to Saint-Denis, near Paris, attracted some 300 demonstrators.

Several members of the executive or the presidential entourage, however, encourage Emmanuel Macron to reconnect with the French on the ground.

"It is important" that he makes trips to the territories as Wednesday, said one of his relatives, Transport Minister Clément Beaune, rejoicing that he "can be on the ground", "in contact", to "hear a number of these demands too".

Since the presentation of his pension reform in January, the president has remained on the sidelines at the Elysee. He travelled very little in the regions, with the exception of two visits to the Charente and near Lake Serre-Ponçon, in the Alps. On the latter occasion, he was heckled by protesters.

Acceleration

After chairing the Council of Ministers at the Elysee, Emmanuel Macron is expected Wednesday in the early afternoon in the company Mathis, specializing in wood construction and intervening on several sites for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, said the Elysee.

The wood industry is particularly involved in the decarbonisation of the building sector. And it is "a strategic sector of this reindustrialization of the country supported by the government," added the presidency.

President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne during a meeting with MEDEF, CPME and the local business union, on April 18, 2023 at the Elysee Palace in Paris © STEPHANIE LECOCQ / POOL / AFP

During his address to the French, Emmanuel Macron gave himself a hundred days to relaunch his second five-year term.

Among the priority projects that he wants to advance between now and 14th July, that of a "new pact for life at work" to be negotiated with the social partners, and that of "progress" in public services such as education or health.

Thursday, he must also follow with another trip, in the Hérault, dedicated to the school. According to several Macronist sources, he could on this occasion make announcements on the remuneration of teachers.

"Acceleration" seems the key word of the sequence that the head of state now wants to open.

The executive is showing its willingness to undertake reforms in all directions without delay, a task that promises to be very complicated since Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has not managed in recent weeks to expand her relative majority in the National Assembly.

Receiving employers on Tuesday, he asked the social partners to negotiate the new pact including work-related measures by the end of this year and which the government sees as a complement to the pension reform.

For his part, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wants to revive efforts on immigration and reach a "strong bill" on which he hopes for the support of the right-wing party Les Républicains (LR).

© 2023 AFP