French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference to answer questions from journalists after naming a new government, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2024. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced a wide array of measures - from checking school uniforms to increasing parental leave payments - in a bid to reinvigorate a second mandate marred by his unpopularity and contested reforms.
In a rare, and lengthy, news conference, Macron, focused on voters' everyday concerns, including schools and the cost of living, confirming that he wants to turn the page on last year's contested pension and immigration reforms.
"France will be stronger in this world of upheaval if we're more united," he said. "I'm convinced that we have all the assets we need to succeed."
Widespread public discontent over surging living costs and last year's reforms have seriously hit Macron's ratings, and his chances in European Parliament elections in June, where his party trails badly behind the far right.
In a nod to that, Macron confirmed plans for tax cuts for the middle class and said electricity would remain substantially cheaper than in some neighbouring countries but gave no details.
"There is a blind spot in France, which means many of our compatriots earn too much to get help but not enough to live well," Macron said, adding that he wanted to address that.
Macron's appointment last week of Gabriel Attal, 34, a relatively popular and media-savvy rising star of French politics, as France's youngest ever prime minister, had already signaled the president's desire to move forward.
CHILDREN
Measures concerning children would include regulating their screen time, Macron said, adding that he could not specify yet how that would be done.
He also said uniforms would be tested in about 100 schools, adding there would be more civic instruction classes and that all children in junior high school should have access to drama classes.
Parental leave, he said, would be shorter than now but better paid.
He said there would be reforms of the health system to ensure people have better access to doctors - a major concern for many in France - but remained quite vague about how that would be achieved.
The government will detail some of these steps later, he said.
Macron, whose margin of manoeuvre is constrained by the lack of an absolute majority in parliament, said he would ask his government to launch more liberal reforms to boost the economy, saying France needed to "produce more" and "innovate more".
"France will be stronger if it wins back its financial independence", he said.
(Reporting by Benoit van Overstraeten, Tassilo Hummel, Elizabeth Pineau, Ingrid Melander, John Irish; Writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by John Irish and Gareth Jones)
