“I want to,” he told Le Parisien in early January, when asked if he would be a candidate for his succession. In an interview with La Voix du Nord, published on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron is more specific: he can only be a candidate on the condition that the epidemic peak has passed and that the tension around the Ukrainian crisis, in which Russia and the United States are fanning the fire, either back down. “I told them (the French) that I would be president until the end”, he justifies.
“I have already said what I think of the projects, the enthusiasm and the love that I have for our country. But first of all I am obsessed that the acute phase of the epidemic and the peak of the current geopolitical crisis are behind us, explains the President of the Republic. I cannot reasonably explain to the French that I am going to indulge in this important democratic time, when I have told them that I will be president until the end and that we have a crisis on the Ukrainian border which threatens our collective security. »
If the epidemic peak seems to have passed, the situation is however more tense in Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron, however, hopes to be one of the artisans of appeasement. “In recent days, I have had Vladimir Putin on the phone three times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky twice,” he explains to the newspaper, when he should return to Germany on Friday for a new meeting. “Vladimir Putin and the Americans themselves consider that the next few days will be days of extreme incandescence. As long as the dialogue is there, it must be maintained. »
Towards a reduction in the health protocol at school?
The interview with La Voix du Nord was also an opportunity for Emmanuel Macron to first review the health protocol at school. “I admit it, the criticisms of the late sending of school protocols were justified,” he confesses, as he had already said. The health protocol had only been revealed on the eve of the start of the school year, preventing the directors of establishments and the teachers from preparing properly, but it had also had to be reviewed several times because it was impossible to keep. What will it be now? “If the figures are confirmed, I would like us to be able to give visibility to the return of school holidays for each zone on the reduction of school protocol”, he explains.
When announcing the lifting of health restrictions in mid-January – the first phase of which begins on February 2 – the Prime Minister had outlined an upcoming reduction in the health protocol at school, in particular concerning the wearing of masks at school. elementary school or on “the question of the number of tests or self-tests to be carried out”. As for the measures to be lifted on February 16 – in particular the reopening of nightclubs and the resumption of concerts – Emmanuel Macron assures: “Everything suggests that we will be able to hold (this date). »