President Macron was interviewed live on TV last night by journalists for the first time since his election. It seemed strange that a major line of questioning (and the reports) was about his use of language when referring to workers and managers who do nothing to improve the position other than demonstrate. "Faineants" (shirkers), ""foutre le bordel" (create chaos) are words he says are in common parlance and not insulting. We are used to politicians just mincing their words rather than engaging in proper debate.
Apart from defending his use of language he was also accused of "favouring the rich". By cutting wealth tax he does not believe in "trickle down", but in encouraging enterprise. "Taxing the rich will not make us all better off" as he claims the popular politicians are arguing. But taxing pensioners more by increasing social charges will, he claims, only affect wealthy pensioners, 80% of pensioners will benefit from abolishing taxe d'habitation.
He refuses to make any hostages to fortune as did Hollande by claiming he would reverse the upward trend of unemployment. It will take up to two years before any real gains are seen, but many other programmes other than the new labour laws will be introduced.
His only comment on the migrant situation was to ensure that illegal immigrants who committed crimes would be thrown out. He considers that France has become used to the idea that it is difficult to send people back to other countries, so nothing is done. "This will change".
Some 61% of people questioned afterwards were not convinced by the president's interview.
comments to taglines82@gmail.com
