Speech by Gabriel Attal: “A catalog of small concrete measures” for political scientist Michel Crespy

Michel Crespy, politologue, décrypte le discours de Gabriel Attal. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

Le regard du politologue montpelliérain Michel Crespy sur le discours de politique générale de Gabriel Attal.

Avez-vous été convaincu par le discours de politique générale de Gabriel Attal ?

He still has this same problem: he does not have a majority. So he cannot announce a great law. Usually, the Prime Minister's general policy speech announces some major laws. This is impossible.

He therefore announces a host of small regulatory measures. The AME, for example, he said he wanted to reform it through regulations. Almost on all subjects, he wonders what he can reform by decree. For whatever must be reformed by law, he cannot do.

Hence the catalog effect already criticized in his speech ?

It appears like a catalog of small concrete measures. Some will say that there is finally something concrete, others that there is no major project, and both are right.

He spoke of archipelagoized French people. He seems to consider the French very separate from each other, so he tries to respond to a whole series of categories, going into detail about everything that can be done by decree.

A dominant theme ?

Strengthening authority. Particularly in matters of education, where the essence of its policy consists of returning to a dream image that the French have of it, with the old master who has the authority. But the concern n° 1 of the French remains purchasing power, by far. He didn’t say anything about it. Otherwise that he is liberal, and that he will therefore “de-emphasize”. I don't really know what that means, it was very vague.

Otherwise, there is the reform of the minimum wage and that of unemployment, the only economic measures envisaged, but we do not have the details.

There is an incantation aspect ? "Rearm", "debureaucratize", "unlock"…

Yes, because he can do all this by decree, by removing decrees taken by the State. For farmers, it will remove ten and replace it with just one. He wants to reform his administration and simplify ? I’ve been hearing that for 50 years. The Prime Minister of State Reform and Simplification was Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, under Giscard d’Estaing.

How do you judge his announcements for farmers ?

There have been announcements ? A general policy speech is not necessarily the time for this kind of announcement. But the farmer who was expecting big, radical decisions will be disappointed.

The farmers want money, that's the only thing he can't promise them. So he promised that he would maintain budget balances.

Only one party was named and targeted, the RN…

It's not surprising that he attacks them: the Europeans, in his mind, are a confrontation between him and Bardella, a confrontation that he sets up . He considers the others to be secondary.

But I found him aggressive. He didn’t look very calm. If we want to be positive, we will say that he was dynamic.

He talked about his sexuality. A first, no ?

Yes. And the MPs stood up to applaud at that moment. This is another first, even if politicians are increasingly exposing their private lives. But it is indeed proof that things have changed.

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