Visiting Marseille this Wednesday, September 1, Emmanuel Macron took the time to listen to the inhabitants of the city of Bassens, before going to the police at the northern police station. On the spot, he promised “a security response” and “measures” taken “in consultation with the inhabitants”.
Eight months before the presidential election, the President of the Republic arrived on Wednesday afternoon for a visit of several days to Marseille. Particularly expected on the ground, after a summer marked by a dozen bloody settling of scores, still against the backdrop of drug trafficking, Emmanuel Macron must come up with a plan to respond to the social, educational, economic and security emergencies that the second city of France.
Accompanied by no less than seven ministers, the Head of State was greeted by the socialist mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, at the town hall decked out in French, European and Marseille colors (blue and white), but also to the sound of “Macron resignation” launched by some demonstrators. Then he went to the bedside of the inhabitants of the city of Bassens, in these northern districts of the city, plagued by violence and drug trafficking.
There, he announced to the press that “measures” would be taken “in consultation with the inhabitants”. The Head of State then assured that the response would be “safe” but not only, adding that solutions could also be found through “school, training, employment, entrepreneurship” but also via a better policy of transport and access to housing.
“No results before the end of the mandate”
Calling himself “stubborn” and “determined”, Emmanuel Macron distilled a few notes of hope on the spot and even said he was ready to “put more resources”. However, he tempered his speech, not wishing “here to make false promises”. “Many things that we are going to launch will not have results immediately, I am lucid”, he conceded, for results that he will not wait “for before the end of the mandate”. And to conclude: “we will do the maximum but I cannot tell you that we will succeed”.
As for the question launched by a journalist whether this visit foreshadowed an entry into the campaign for the upcoming presidential election, the one who has not yet announced whether he was a candidate for re-election immediately replied: “Not at all”. “This is not the subject. The subject is the results ”, he retorted, stressing that it was necessary to“ make up for lost time during the Covid ”.
