I haven’t spoken on television like this since this summer. Emmanuel Macron spoke to the French this Sunday afternoon at 8 p.m., a few days after the visit of Charles III and Pope Francis. In an interview on TF1 and France 2, co-broadcast by BFMTV, the Head of State spoke about inflation and the energy transition. BFMTV takes a look back at what you can remember from this interview.
· Immigration: Macron calls for a “European response”
Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that Pope Francis was right to call for “a wave against indifference” towards migrants. However, he stated that the French “did not[aient] their part.” “We must be rigorous. “We cannot accept all the misery in the world,” he added.
For the president, the heart of the response “does not exist in France” but in the European Union: “We must have a coherent approach with the countries of origin. We must better condition our aid to a more responsible policy on migration. say: ‘We help you with economic projects but you must help us dismantle the networks that lead these people to leave their country.'”
“I want us to export experts and equipment” to Tunisia and Algeria to dismantle these networks, the Head of State also indicated.
· Inflation: an agreement on margin moderation
In the face of inflation and the increase in the cost of living, Emmanuel Macron highlights that “the first thing we focus on is creating jobs and ensuring that they are better paid.”
“This Wednesday a text arrives to reopen negotiations with large industrialists,” he added, stressing that he wants to reach an agreement with them “on the moderation of margins in all sectors.”
“What works is to sit everyone around the table again and check, by putting controllers there, to reach an agreement on the moderation of margins,” he said in response to those who ask to block prices.
· Fuel: cost price and aid to workers
The rise in fuel prices is due to “international geopolitics”, said Emmanuel Macron. He indicated that Elisabeth Borne was going to ask distributors “to set a cost price, so that no one makes margins.”
“We are going to ask them for transparency and to make room for them,” he stated.
He added that he will ask the Government to continue supporting French people who work and need to travel: “It is a mechanism that must be limited to workers and that will not exceed 50% of the most active workers. Modest, with a maximum of 100 euros per car year.”
· Energy transition: moving away from coal
For Emmanuel Macron, we must get out of coal because it is the “most polluting” fossil energy:
“By 2027, we will convert the two remaining coal plants to biomass. France will be one of the first countries in Europe to abandon coal.”
The president also wants to continue the electrification of vehicles, producing at least one million electric vehicles before the end of the five-year period and also more batteries, with four dedicated factories.
Enfin, les chaudières à gaz ne vont pas être interdites, mais les pompes à chaleur seront développées en France: “C’est intelligent, permet de faire des économies d’énergie et de réduire très fortement les émissions. On va tripler leur production en France.”
· Niger: the ambassador is recalled, the soldiers leave the country
France has finally decided to bring back its ambassador in the next few hours and end its military cooperation with Niger.
It will be organized in the coming weeks and months, “between now and the end of the year.”
· Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh: “unconditional” support for Armenians
The Head of State finally gave his “unconditional” support to the Armenians, whom he announced “they will continue to support on a humanitarian and political level.” “Russia is an accomplice of Azerbaijan,” the president further specifies.
Source: BFM TV
