Macron turns to right over birthrate and education

French President Emmanuel Macron has made a decision to support right-wing policies.

Everyone agreed after he talked for a long time on TV on Tuesday.

He wanted students to wear the same clothes at school, to stop drug gangs, and to increase the number of babies being born in France.

Left-leaning analysts were upset about his apparent change from the carefully balanced politics of the past few years.

But they believed that his true feelings were always on the right side.

People on the right were happy that he seemed to agree with them now, but they thought he was just pretending.

Macron spoke in front of about 100 reporters for 2. 5 hours at the Elysée palace.

It was supposed to be an opportunity for people to “meet the nation” and set the focus for his final three years in office, following criticism that he had lost his ability to make changes after being re-elected in 2022.

It happened a week after President Macron chose a new government with Gabriel Attal, who is the youngest prime minister in French history. Attal is in charge of a group of people in the government, and they are more conservative than the people who were in this role before.

Hugh wrote about Macron choosing a 34-year-old, Attal, as the youngest Prime Minister of France.

The president’s words showed that he changed his plans to deal with the increasing influence of the extreme right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen. Her party, National Rally (RN), is expected to win the most votes in the European elections in June.

He believed that teaching French values to kids in school was important for keeping France’s identity.

He said that each new group of people must understand the Republic, including its history, responsibilities, freedoms, and culture, starting from when they are young.

He said that if an experiment in 100 schools next year goes well, everyone in school will have to wear a uniform in 2026. This idea is usually supported only by some of the political right.

He wanted schools to teach the national anthem and have ceremonies for giving out diplomas. He also wanted 16-year-olds to do community service. He also promised to make rules to limit how long kids can use screens.

However, the president’s most obvious use of conservative ideas was a promise to make more policies to encourage people to have more babies, because the birth rate in France is going down. In 2023, fewer than 700,000 babies were born, which is the lowest number since World War Two.

The French press often says that policies like these are only for “reactionary” governments, like the one led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary. Macron wants to make it easier for people to have fertility treatments and have more time off work when they become parents.

The left-wing newspaper Libération said that the speech showed a conservative view of France, and promised to keep fighting illegal immigration and drug gangs.

Le Monde said the president was looking back at the old France and feeling nostalgic.

The newspaper Le Figaro, which is conservative, thinks that the president openly changed his policy. He has never been so close to meeting the public’s expectations, and we should be happy about it.

The president picked a plan for his speech. He will talk for 30 minutes first. Then, he will answer questions from journalists for two hours.

The detailed format worked well for President Macron because he is very good at discussing every possible topic in great detail and he enjoys doing it. He didn’t do a good job of avoiding the risk of looking intellectually conceited. He may have been trying to hide the fact that he didn’t have much to say by using a lot of words.

Marine Le Pen said the press conference was “another never-ending talk”.