Downbeat Macron warns France of ‘sacrifices’ ahead

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Wednesday that France faced “sacrifices” ahead in a new era marked by climate change and war in Europe.

After France’s summer of drought, massive wildfires and deadly storms, as well as continuing loss of life in Ukraine, the 44-year-old leader delivered a bleak message to the first cabinet meeting after the traditional August holiday break.

“I believe that we are in the process of living through a tipping point or great upheaval. Firstly because we are living through… what could seem like the end of abundance,” he said.

The speech appeared designed to prepare the country for what promises to be a difficult winter ahead, with energy prices rising sharply and many families struggling to meet the cost of living.

Ahead of the six-month anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Macron had vowed on Tuesday that European support for Kyiv would endure “for the long term” despite the impact on European consumers.

“Our system based on freedom in which we have become used to living, sometimes when we need to defend it, it can entail making sacrifices,” Macron told ministers, reprising comments he made on August 19 during his holiday in southern France.

The 44-year-old had called on the French people to “accept paying the price of liberty”.

On Wednesday, he also referred to the wild weather that has hit France over the summer, increasing fears about the pace of climate change.

“This overview that I’m giving — the end of abundance, the end of insouciance, the end of assumptions — it’s ultimately a tipping point that we are going through that can lead our citizens to feel a lot of anxiety,” Macron continued.

“Faced with this, we have duties, the first of which is to speak frankly and very clearly, without doom-mongering,” he added.

– Minority government –

French inflation was clocked at 6.1 percent last month, one of the lowest rates in Europe thanks to costly government price caps on electricity and gas, as well as tax cuts on petrol and diesel.

“Our measures have worked. Apart from Malta, no one is doing better than us,” government spokesman Olivier Veran said after the cabinet meeting.

But trade unions are pushing for higher wages and have called for a day of strikes and rallies on September 29.

The head of the hard-left CGT union, Philippe Martinez, told BFM television that the president’s speech was “inappropriate”, adding that the poorest were already paying the price of the war and that further sacrifices could not be expected.

“He’ll ask for them (sacrifices) and we will oppose them,” Martinez said.

Macron was re-elected to a second term in April but lost his parliamentary majority in elections in June, meaning Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne heads a minority government that depends on opposition parties to pass legislation.

Bernard Sananes, the head of polling group Elabe, said he was struck by the change in tone from Macron who had always sought to offer citizens hope, even during the toughest times in the Covid-19 epidemic.

“His statements have always had an optimistic perspective to them, with ultimately the idea that there was a hope you should focus on and his desire to realise it,” he told AFP.

Wednesday’s address was a “precautionary speech” in order to stress that “we need to be prepared for difficult times ahead,” Sananes added.

“It wasn’t a pessimistic speech about the future,” a government source told reporters on condition of anonymity. “It was a speech that described the state of the country, Europe and the world in lucid terms.”