There is no question of letting the contenders for his succession occupy the front of the media stage alone, even if the countdown to his ten-year term has started. Three months after his last television interview, and against a backdrop of burning news, between the Russian threat, soaring fuel prices, tensions in the Middle East, budget 2027 and the start of the presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron offered himself a prime time platform on TF1 and France 2, Thursday evening. Objective: to show that, even if its agenda is largely monopolized by the international, its action remains focused on the daily lives of the French.
A delicate exercise, due to lack of parliamentary, and therefore political, room for maneuver since the failed dissolution of 2024, which cost the president his relative majority and dispossessed him of his main levers of reform. On the opinion side, the picture is not much brighter: his popularity remains at half mast in all barometers, as if the French had already turned the page on Macron. Le Figaro takes stock of what to remember from its 45 minutes of questions and answers with Gilles Bouleau and Caroline Roux.
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France not safe from a Russian attack
Unsurprisingly, it was the Russian threat that opened the interview. Four and a half years after the start of the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin seems more offensive than ever towards European countries. The head of state cites as proof a recent event whose seriousness is, according to him, underestimated: the discovery, at the beginning of August, of drones loaded with explosives at the German airport of Leipzig. If they had struck the Ukrainian planes parked there as planned, they would undoubtedly have caused human losses. “It’s more hybrid warfare, it’s war, period,” said Emmanuel Macron.
A “situation which is increasing in tension”, marked by the multiplication of “hostile and sometimes criminal acts against European countries”, which hardly surprises the president. Because the Old Continent supports kyiv, “Russia considers that Europe is the strategic depth of Ukraine,” he analyzes. So, is France safe? “The CIA did not inform our services of such an attack,” said the tenant of the Élysée, thus denying information from the foreign press according to which a Russian drone attack was being prepared by sea. Without excluding that such a scenario could “happen”. “It is clear that there have been several indications which show that Russia is organizing itself” for an attack on European soil, assured the head of state, who reaffirms his determination to “help Ukraine resist.”
Fuels: “We are doing everything to avoid shortages”
From the external front to the internal front, there is only one step: social discontent linked to the fuel crisis, with prices at the pump at record levels, quickly entered the interview. Despite 450 million euros in additional aid unveiled on Tuesday, including the doubling of aid for long-distance drivers and the increase in the fuel premium to 1,000 euros, the government appears helpless in the face of the anger of motorists. A reading that Emmanuel Macron worked to undermine, in particular on the risk of shortages. “We are doing everything to avoid them,” the president pledged, admitting that the situation is “terrible for many families” and for French people who are dependent on their cars.
Concretely, the Head of State intends to act “first diplomatically”, linking the rise in prices to “geopolitical circumstances”. “We have 20% of the gas, diesel, crude oil, refined products and gas that come out” of the Strait of Hormuz, he said, with the ambition “to try to lower the tension so that it can come out as easily as possible”. As for possible difficulties in supplying diesel, gas or fuel oil, Emmanuel Macron promised that “by the end of the year, we will be in a position to have what we need”. Including if the crisis were to “get worse or last”.
“Lower prices” before “lower taxes”: the president’s choice
If the anger of the French over fuel prices raises fears of the return of a social movement such as “yellow vests” in the fall, Emmanuel Macron prefers to act on supplies and the situation in the Middle East to “really lower prices”, rather than “lower taxes”, as the RN and its Ciottist allies are demanding.
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A false good idea which, according to him, would amount to making French taxpayers “pay the consequences of geopolitics”, for a costly and poorly targeted measure. “When you lower taxes, you help everyone, including heavy riders who could afford to pay for the full tank,” he declared, believing that it would not be “the most virtuous decision.” Without closing the door if the outbreak were to continue: “Depending on developments, nothing should be excluded.”
The fact remains that prices are linked, by the president's own admission, to factors that "do not depend on us", such as a possible American ban on oil exports, the release of strategic stocks or the circulation of hydrocarbons. The Head of State is nonetheless counting on French “great diplomacy” to act: “We weigh in and we are present in this region, so we can achieve results.” Another advantage put forward by the president: the limitation of pump prices practiced by TotalEnergies, “an opportunity for the French” and the “fruit of our industrial economic history”. “If we didn’t have Total in France, we wouldn’t even have this cap,” he insisted.
Military means to “protect” an energy site in Saudi Arabia
This is one of the announcements of the evening: France will deploy military resources to “protect” the Saudi site of Yanbu, on the Red Sea. Damaged by an attack, this infrastructure makes it possible to transport “several million barrels”. “Soldiers, radars, defense systems” will be present, detailed Emmanuel Macron, who however excludes any participation in combat: “Not engage in any conflict, but protect this site”.
The Head of State also recalled being mobilized with the Iranians and the Omanis to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And is considering, at the same time, “releasing what we call strategic stocks, but in a coordinated manner” with the G7 countries.
Macron calls on 2027 candidates to “not free themselves from reality”
After 2017 and 2022, the next presidential election will be without Emmanuel Macron. And for good reason: the Constitution prohibits him from running for a third consecutive term. While the battle rages for his succession, on the left and on the right, even in the central bloc, the president wants to remain on top. And above all, don't enter the fray. Nevertheless: how does he explain that Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, from two populist forces, are able to access the second round, according to the polls?
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“When things go badly, people find themselves faced with an impossible life and therefore, in fact, are angry,” he replied, calling on all candidates to “not free themselves from reality”. If Emmanuel Macron maintains vagueness about his possible support for a candidate, one thing is certain: any further dissolution is ruled out between now and the end of his mandate.
