Policy. Geopolitical tensions, fuel prices… Emmanuel Macron will be interviewed Thursday evening on television

Emmanuel Macron will be interviewed Thursday at 8 p.m. by TF1 and France 2, the channels concerned announced on Sunday, in a context where the Head of State is increasing alerts on geopolitical tensions, whether in Russia or the Middle East.

The president will answer questions live from journalists Gilles Bouleau and Caroline Roux. Last Friday, he brought together party leaders and presidential candidates at the Elysée and then held a press conference, painting a grim picture of the Russian “hybrid” threat and the fuel price crisis.

Seven months before the next presidential election, and the end of his mandate after a decade at the Elysée, Emmanuel Macron has set himself the role of “guarantor” of the election, which does not imply being “a commentator on our public life”, he said on Friday. Adopting this overlooking posture, he made it a point of honor to describe the mechanisms linking the surge in prices at the pump to the war in the Near and Middle East, ensuring that France was seeking to “secure (its) volumes and supplies” regarding gas and certain types of fuel.

But he should insist on Thursday on the awareness, necessary according to him, of the seriousness of the international situation and its repercussions on the daily life of the population. A message that he believes is not sufficiently heard by the French, while anger is brewing in the face of price increases and the government finds itself under pressure to increase its aid, despite barely any budgetary room for maneuver.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will also hold two meetings on the subject in Matignon on Monday: one with ministers and directors of central administrations devoted to fuel supply; the other, with ministers, on “short and medium-term support for the French”, his services said. “It’s a crisis that can last, so the government is settling in for the long term,” Sébastien Lecornu’s entourage insisted on Sunday.

During his interview, Emmanuel Macron could also drive the point home on “Russian aggressiveness”, which he already castigated on Friday in front of the press. In particular, he asked the government to prepare a plan to protect critical infrastructure and sensitive sites.