Paris Emmanuel Macron actually wanted to hold his first major campaign appearance in Marseille, but he has twice postponed plans for a visit to the southern French city of over a million inhabitants. With the war in Ukraine, the time has not yet come for the French president to appear at a major event in front of cheering supporters.
He wanted to react to the “return of the tragic” with “three philosophical convictions,” said Macron in the former warehouses of Aubervilliers, which are now an event center. His introductory words were abstract: it is a matter of giving the population “sovereignty” again, having “trust in progress” and pursuing “humanism” as a guiding principle.
The absence of a real argument three weeks before the election date raises concerns about the political culture in the neighboring country. “If there is no election campaign, the question of the legitimacy of the winner arises,” said Gérard Larcher of the conservative-bourgeois Republicans. Larcher is President of the Senate, the second chamber of the French Parliament. In Aubervilliers, Macron first holds a more than 90-minute monologue before answering the questions.
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Building on promises of reform
Macron is actually appearing these days primarily as head of state in times of crisis. Right at the beginning he talks about the lessons that should be learned from the Ukraine war. “I have decided to put an end to the declining investment in our army,” he said. He also affirmed that France and the European Union had to become more independent: in terms of energy imports, future technologies in industry, and the supply of food. The President has represented the idea of “European sovereignty” since taking office, so the Macron 2.0 project is not fundamentally different from the candidacy five years ago.
The President has been in office since 2017. At that time he won against Marine Le Pen.
(Photo: Reuters)
Macron is also trying to build on the promises of reform he made when he moved into the Élysée Palace in 2017 at the head of a new central alliance. Above all, this includes restructuring the pension system – a complicated task that he failed to do in his first term. Macron called for the statutory retirement age to be gradually raised from 62 to 65.
Long employment biographies would be taken into account, he promised. He also wants to continue the labor market reforms of his first term in order to achieve full employment in France by 2027. Research is to be strengthened with additional investments of 25 billion euros over ten years, and there are also to be tax cuts of 15 billion euros.
But Macron’s self-image as head of state who wants to protect citizens and the economy in the current times of crisis shimmered through again and again in the press conference. His campaign slogan is “Avec vous”, in English in the expanded translation: “I stand by your side.” On Wednesday, Macron sent his Prime Minister Jean Castex ahead to announce a government support program for households and businesses to combat the consequences of the Russian war to mitigate against Ukraine.
The “Plan for Economic and Social Resilience” provides for a reduction in fuel prices, relief for energy-intensive industries and aid for companies with strong business ties to Russia and Ukraine. The cost is 25 billion euros.
The package of measures includes a discount of 15 cents per liter of fuel, which drivers will receive at the pump from April 1st. Macron’s government had previously attempted to cushion rising energy prices for French households. For many consumers, gas prices are frozen at the October 2021 level. Electricity prices could be increased by a maximum of four percent, and low earners also received a one-off government payment of 100 euros. The state is also spending more than 20 billion euros on this.
>>Read also: President in times of war: Macron wants to win re-election as leader in Europe
A drastic experience during Macron’s tenure was the yellow vest movement in autumn 2018 against rising petrol and diesel prices. Macron definitely wants to avoid a repeat of the protests in the weeks leading up to the election – and has had the state respond generously accordingly. The question of what Macron’s plans mean for the national debt of around 115 percent of gross domestic product played a secondary role.
In France, too, fuel prices have risen enormously.
(Photo: AP)
However, the President reiterated the goal of bringing the deficit back below the three percent limit of gross domestic product by 2027. Macron is trying to walk a tightrope between the office of president and the role of candidate. He waited a long time before making his bid for a second term official, although no one really doubted his ambitions.
While his team prepared the campaign behind the scenes, the head of state publicly evaded the call, saying he had to deal with the geopolitical crisis surrounding Ukraine. He only made his candidacy official at the beginning of March, shortly before the deadline. In a letter, he let his compatriots know that when in doubt, crisis management would be preferred to debate with his challengers: “Of course, given the circumstances, I won’t be able to campaign as I would have liked.”
In polls, Macron has increased since the beginning of the Ukraine war and can therefore count on just over 30 percent in the first ballot on April 10. In the runoff two weeks later, as in 2017, he is likely to face right-wing populist Marine Le Pen, who recently increased the gap to right-wing nationalist Éric Zemmour and conservative-bourgeois candidate Valérie Pécresse. In the fight for entry into the second round, left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon is now on the rise, and some polls now put him in third place, albeit a few points behind Le Pen. Pollsters currently see Macron ahead in the runoff election – no matter who he would compete against there.
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