Emmanuel Macron admitted yesterday, when analyzing the causes of the recent riots, led by very young people, that “our country needs a return to authority at all levels, first of all within the family.” The French president considered that the authority must return to school, to public office and to the security forces. “The lesson I get is: order, order, order,” he emphasized.
The head of state was interviewed jointly by two television channels, TF1 and France 2, a few hours after landing in Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific. It was a strange format to address the country and comment on the recent changes in the Government and the consequences of the outbreak of violence almost a month ago.
Macron defended his management and that of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, during serious street disorders and acts of looting. The president recalled that in 2005 the riots lasted three weeks and this time only four days –although the damage was now much greater– and that on this occasion, unlike 18 years ago, it was not necessary to restrict freedoms by establishing a state of emergency.
On the reshuffle of the Cabinet, Macron expressed his confidence in the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, and stressed that the adjustments were made out of an “efficiency” imperative. The head of the Elysium warned that “there is no majority of change”, so it will be necessary to continue with projects and reforms for the country despite the fact that the macronistas no longer have an absolute majority in the National Assembly. Macron confirmed that one of the most far-reaching initiatives will be a new immigration law that better protects the borders, but is also flexible to integrate and fill labor shortages in sectors such as agriculture, construction or catering.
Macron did not want to specify what his proposal will be to unblock the situation in New Caledonia, where there are two communities of similar weight, the Kanaca (mostly independent) and the one of European origin, in favor of continuing in France. Three referendums in the last five years have so far closed the door to full sovereignty, although the question is not closed. The president reiterated that his trip wants to affirm the “presence” and the “projection” of France in the Indian and Pacific region, in whose territories under its sovereignty live about 1.5 million people and where Paris has deployed thousands of soldiers.
The far-right and conservative opposition criticized Macron after the interview. According to Éric Ciotti, leader of Los Republicanos, the president persists in speaking and speaking, but they are “useless” words given the “seriousness of the situation”, which “demands facts”. The far-right deputy Sébastien Cornu regretted that Macron is demanding a return to authority when “in six years he has not made any structured proposal.”
