Nuclear, pensions… Has Emmanuel Macron turned his back, as Valérie Pécresse asserts?

Has Emmanuel Macron changed his mind on pensions, nuclear power, security and justice? In any case, this is the accusation made by Valérie Pécresse during the show France in the face of war, which brought together eight candidates for the Elysée Palace on TF1 on Monday evening. “I think he listened to my program and I’m happy about that. Obviously, that was not his position at all a few months ago, ”continued candidate LR.

Emmanuel Macron has changed his mind on pensions, on nuclear power, on security, on justice and maybe tomorrow also on immigration.

Can we believe someone who promises the opposite of what he has been doing for 5 years? #FaceALaGuerreTF1 pic.twitter.com/yU6Hhg9Y6b

— Valerie Pécresse (@vpecresse) March 14, 2022

Has the president-candidate really changed his position on these major issues? 20 minutes make the point.

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• On the retirement age, the president changed his mind

As early as his 2017 campaign, Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to reform pension systems, with a promise – among others: “We will not touch the retirement age”. When it was put on the table at the end of 2019, its reform met with strong opposition, before the project was shelved due to the coronavirus.

This new campaign has put the subject back on the table. However, and as 20 minutes reported it explained a few days ago, there are notable differences between the 2017 and 2022 proposals of candidate Macron. Today, the president-candidate promises a gradual extension of the retirement age. A postponement that will be made over ten years, “to reach 65 years of age in 2032”, specified Richard Ferrand, the president of the National Assembly who was to present the reform project to the CFDT.

In 2017, the LREM candidate also set a minimum pension at €1,000, against 1,100 today. However, in a context of inflation, this is not a big step forward, according to economists. Finally, on the abolition of all special regimes, promised by the candidate in 2017, the details of the planned reform are not known but it could only concern “new entrants”, according to the government spokesperson. Gabriel Attal.

• U-turn on nuclear power

In November 2018, the president confirmed the closure of the two reactors at the Fessenheim power plant for 2020, fulfilling the promise made by his predecessor, François Hollande. The government then defended “a key step in the commitment made by France to reduce the share of nuclear power in energy production to 50%”, providing for the closure of 12 other reactors by 2035.

Since then, Emmanuel Macron has made a 180 degree turn on the atom. The president went to Belfort on February 10 to present his plan for the future of energy in France, one of the pillars of which is none other than… the development of nuclear power. It thus wishes to build, by 2050, six new EPR nuclear reactors. They will be supplemented by small modular reactors (SMR) and “innovative” reactors producing less waste, with the objective of “25 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity by 2050”. A change of foot justified by Emmanuel Macron by the increase in electricity needs. The president-candidate also wants to “extend [la durée de vie de] all the reactors that can be” beyond fifty years if possible.

• Same trajectory for security and justice

On the issues of security and justice mentioned by Valérie Pécresse, the president displayed strong ambitions during his campaign in 2017. He promised the creation of 10,000 police and gendarme posts, a “daily security police”, more places in prison or even a reform of justice for more speed in the procedures.

From this point of view, Emmanuel Macron has not changed course. If the “everyday security police” has been a reality, the creation of additional posts is however the subject of controversy. As for the 15,000 prison places, half have been created and the rest should be by 2027. On the other hand, the record in terms of justice reform is more mixed. The budgetary effort has been significant throughout the five-year term, but it has above all served to catch up on years of delay.

Last January, when he was not yet an official candidate, Emmanuel Macron announced a 15 billion euro increase in the security budget over the next five years. A desire in line with the trajectory announced in 2017. The candidate LREM will present his complete program this Thursday, March 17, enough to know more about his positions.