It’s the end of the holidays for ministers. Emmanuel Macron will meet them again this Wednesday for their first Council of Ministers since July 28. Recovery, youth, security and a plan for Marseille: eight months before the 2022 presidential election, the government has prepared a loaded program with the hope of starting to turn the page on the coronavirus.
This Wednesday, the Head of State therefore successively meets a “Restricted Defense and National Security Council”, in the context of the crisis in Afghanistan, then the now usual Covid-19 Defense Council and finally the Council of Ministers. Emmanuel Macron will then go to the front line to unfold four weeks of key themes … on condition that the health crisis confirms its improvement and that the start of the school year does not see a proliferation of clusters or demonstrations.
Growth expected at 6%
For the last months of the quinquennium, the executive is showing a cautious renewal of optimism, fueled by the decline in unemployment to its pre-pandemic level and a growth forecast of 6%. The president’s popularity also climbed to 41% in August, according to Ifop, significantly higher than that of his predecessors at the same stage of their mandates.
First stage of the start of the school year, a social summit on September 2 in Matignon, where Jean Castex will receive in turn the leaders of the unions and employers. On the menu, the pension reform, for the moment at a standstill, and the reform of unemployment insurance, which Emmanuel Macron wants to apply from October 1. The Prime Minister will also make his media return on Thursday in the morning of RTL, then in the new show by Laurent Ruquier and Léa Salamé on Saturday, September 4.
A “Marseille plan”
Next week, the head of state is due to go to Marseille to announce a major plan on issues of security, urban renewal, housing and education, including the renovation of schools. Emmanuel Macron will attend in the wake in the city at the World Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the opportunity to talk about ecology.
The week of September 6 will be devoted to economic recovery, with the presentation of the “France 2030” plan, with 20 billion long-term investments, which will be added to the 100 billion already announced. Emmanuel Macron should the following week himself close the Beauvau of security, a vast consultation on the police.
Young people on the program at the end of September
Finally, the last week of September should see the Head of State present the “commitment income” for young people he had announced on July 12. Aimed at young people who are unemployed or without training, i.e. more than a million people, this system should include individualized support and an income of around 500 euros, provided that the young person undertakes to follow a path of integration. With this calendar, the executive is preparing to occupy the field by action at a time when, in all political currents, the contenders for the Elysee are asserting themselves.
