A symbolic milestone. For his first 100 days in Matignon, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal answered questions from BFMTV at length on Thursday evening. The head of government, who had presented earlier in the day a series of proposals against violence among young people, once again returned to this burning subject. But he also addressed questions of purchasing power, the Olympic Games, or the situation in the Middle East. Here's what you need to remember from this interview.
“You can’t lose interest in what your children do”
Asked about the tragedy in Grande-Synthe, where a 22-year-old man died after being beaten, the Prime Minister did not reject the term “barbarians”, used by the family to designate the perpetrators of this murder. . “This is a new manifestation of what we denounce,” said Gabriel Attal, who drew up a list of proposals on Thursday in Viry-Chatillon (Essonne) to restore authority at school, after a series of news items violent incidents involving young people. Calling for harsher sanctions to be imposed on “those who attack our fellow citizens”, particularly minors, the Prime Minister estimated that “it is a collective start that we need”.
He then detailed the timetable for some of the measures envisaged to resolve the problem of violence among young people. He notably announced that he would inaugurate on Monday a first boarding school “which will accommodate around sixty young people” with poor attendance. The Prime Minister also denounced “Islamist entryism” advocating “the precepts of sharia, particularly in our schools”.
Concerning the responsibility of parents, the head of government wishes to sanction “repeated minor breaches”, such as “not being concerned that your child does not go to school regularly”. “We cannot be disinterested in what our children do,” he insisted, recalling that he also pleaded this Thursday for fines to be put in place for parents who do not attend the summons of the juvenile judges. He also declared that commitment “contracts” between establishments, parents and children will come into force “at the start of the next school year”.
“We need to do more on learning about secularism,” he also said, referring to “the doubling of the hours of civic education courses” in college. A measure already announced in January by the President of the Republic.
Security, “first concern” during the Olympics
Faced with the terrorist threat, security will be “the first concern” during the Paris Olympic Games, assured the Prime Minister. Referring to the 45,000 police and gendarmes deployed in Paris, as well as the air security system, he affirmed that “everything is done to guarantee security”. “We still have to be able to have a plan B, or even a plan C,” he said. “I am calm because we are putting all the means at our disposal to secure these Games,” he concluded.
In an interview on Monday 100 days before the Olympics, Emmanuel Macron also wanted to be reassuring regarding the security system that will be put in place for the competition. However, he had mentioned “fallback scenarios” in the event of a threat, with a “limited ceremony at the Trocadéro”, or even the option of repatriating the festivities “to the Stade de France”.
“Efforts” to save money
In search of savings to reduce the public deficit, Gabriel Attal defended the government's “credible and serious” trajectory. “The State is tightening its belt, we will continue to make efforts,” continued the Prime Minister, while the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, presented in February a ten billion plan. savings.
Emmanuel Macron's commitment to lower taxes by 2 billion euros for the middle classes in 2025 "will be kept", he also assured, while adding that they would have to be "financed". The head of government also defended his plan to reform unemployment insurance, believing that there was “a collective interest in having more French people working”.
Gabriel Attal had promised at the beginning of April that the government “will never attack working French people”. He said it again on BFMTV: “I’m not going to tell you that we’re going to start increasing taxes after having lowered them. This is not our logic at all,” he said.
“Be among the best” at school
The Prime Minister then answered a series of questions from viewers about the school. Asked about teacher absenteeism, he called for “limiting absences” and “covering them better”. “Our system itself generates absences,” he said, recalling that he had proposed that teacher training times take place “outside class time”. Regarding the level of students, he again called for the implementation of the Singapore method for mathematics, or the establishment of level groups. “This will allow the teacher to have a pedagogy adapted to the level of the students,” defended Gabriel Attal, believing that we could not have a system “that pulls everyone down”. “France aims to be among the best,” he said. He also recalled the president's wish to bring in the most difficult students before the others, from August 20. Concerning the fight against harassment, the Prime Minister said "to think about other measures", in particular to technically prohibit those under 13 from accessing social networks.
Returning to a measure announced this Thursday morning, Gabriel Attal declared that there would be “a welcome offered to students” in the
colleges in the city's political districts from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., which will then be extended gradually. “It already exists in certain neighborhoods,” he assured, praising “very beneficial” effects.
In the Middle East, “do everything to avoid escalation”
The Prime Minister indicated that there were still “three French hostages held by Hamas” in Gaza. “We are trying by all means to have them released,” he assured. “A lot of work is also being done to obtain the release of French people detained in Iran,” he added. Concerning the situation in the Middle East, the Prime Minister considered that it was necessary to “do everything to avoid escalation”. Gabriel Attal also defended “a form of self-defense”, while France participated on Saturday in intercepting the 350 drones and missiles fired by Iran towards Israel.
On Ukraine, Gabriel Attal considered that it was “important” to support kyiv because of the “exorbitant price” that a Russian victory would have for the French, citing a risk of inflation in food and beverages. 'energy. “It would be a cataclysm for purchasing power,” he said.
The European campaign “not started”
The upcoming European elections are “the most important since these elections existed”, said the Prime Minister, due to the international context. While the leader of the presidential majority, Valérie Hayer, is left behind by Jordan Bardella in the polls, Gabriel Attal declared that "the real debate had not yet really begun, because the oppositions do not want to talk about Europe”. “Europe does not interest them,” he repeated in particular about the National Rally (RN).