In his New Year’s address on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for national unity as the country prepares for the 2024 Olympics, after a difficult year for his government.
He promised a civil and economic “rearmament” of the country, speaking from the gardens of the Elysee Palace with the flags of Olympic nations behind him.
Addressing the memory of former European Union leader Jacques Delors, who died on Wednesday, Macron said voters would face a crucial choice in June’s European elections. They will have to choose between “continuing Europe or blocking it,” he said. Macron noted:
We will have to make the choice of a stronger, more sovereign Europe in the light of the legacy of Jacques Delors.
Macron was speaking at the end of a troubled year in which his government introduced highly unpopular pension reforms and faced summer riots sparked by police killings of young men. In December, the French government passed a controversial immigration bill backed by the far-right, causing a split within its own ranks.
He came under fire earlier this month for his comments in support of actor Gerard Depardieu, who has been accused of rape and faced a string of sexual harassment claims. Macron has also come under public criticism for his handling of the crisis in the Middle East, which followed Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October and Israel’s subsequent response.
France will not forget the hostages taken by Hamas, he said on Sunday, nor the 41 French citizens killed in the attack. But his call for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, made in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, has so far gone unheeded.
