"The country is moving forward": Emmanuel Macron wanted to show, Monday, May 15, that the page of pensions began to be turned at the end of a series of announcements on reindustrialization, with the help of billionaire Elon Musk who dangled an investment in France.

"I am confident that Tesla will make significant investments in France in the future," said earlier in the day, without further details, the boss of the pioneering company in electric cars, after being received by the head of state at the Elysee.

" READ ALSO "Choose France": why the Hexagon seduces so many foreign investors?

Elon Musk was in France for the sixth edition of "Choose France", which brought together more than 200 foreign bosses at the Palace of Versailles on Monday and announced 28 projects with foreign capital for a total of 13 billion euros, with 8,000 direct jobs at stake. A record since the first edition in 2018 of this annual meeting wanted by Emmanuel Macron.

Put in difficulty since the beginning of the year by the pension crisis, the President of the Republic seeks to bounce back politically and multiplies trips and announcements on the revitalization of French industry, especially in the field of electric cars.

At 20h of TF1. https://t.co/VxH6XYrwpD

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 15, 2023

"We are moving forward and there is a determination", "the country continues to create", launched Emmanuel Macron in an interview with the 20 hours of TF1 insisting once again, as he has done many times for a week, on the "constancy" of his economic policy to lower the "cost of labor" and attract investors, while accelerating the ecological transition.

"Even when there are disputes, we do not change, we do not face to face," he pleaded, "investors see the strength of what we have done."

Tax cuts for the "middle classes"

Emmanuel Macron has also promised to "concentrate" on "the middle classes" two billion euros of tax cuts for households planned by 2027, even if he gave no details or precise date.

"I have asked the government to work on this, but I do not want to close doors here because there may be smart things to do on part of the charges you pay, contributions you pay when you are employed. So this is what will allow people who work, who are middle classes, to somehow have a more important rest to live for them, "he stressed, refusing in parallel any action to increase wages.

The head of state had already insisted on the "middle classes" in an interview with the newspaper L'Opinion on Sunday, citing "those who are too rich to be helped and not rich enough to live well", with "incomes between 1,500 and 2,500 euros".

Emmanuel Macron also said he hoped that inflation on food products would be "absorbed (...) by the autumn", aiming to ensure that there are "no exceptional margins" made by large retailers or manufacturers in this context. "The goal is to absorb this inflation by the fall to, I hope, return to more well-known and more normal territory," he said.

" READ ALSO The appeasement wanted by Emmanuel Macron undermined by the war of attrition of his opponents

The President of the Republic, who is due to begin a new diplomatic chapter this week with several international trips, also rejected any form of "contempt" for the French.

"I don't like this adjective that we put in all sauces," he replied. "It's an adjective that the extremes have had about me, which has been taken up. I've never seen anyone say 'you're contemptuous'. Sometimes I am told, 'You are too tough, you are too determined, too energetic.' Sometimes others explain to you that we do not go far enough," he said.

"I reject it because we do not go to contact as I have been since I have been involved in political life when we have contempt for people. And I'll tell you, when you have contempt you don't care. True contempt is lying to people. That's the real contempt."

With AFP

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