The French prime minister said the country must take a firm stand against figures like Elon Musk who represent a “new global anarchy”.
“A new world turmoil is emerging that threatens all balance and all defense rules,” veteran centrist François Bayrou said in his first policy speech to parliament on Tuesday. There are a certain number of people like Elon Musk who embody this without any complex. ”
The tech billionaire, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, is expected to play an influential role in Washington over the next four years.
Bayrou cited what he called Trump’s “threat to annex sovereign territory, Greenland, the Panama Canal, and even Canada.” He said it was for France to look at this “head on” and show “who it is” as such a global power. France must be able to “express our resolve,” he said.
On the domestic front, Bayrou, who took office a month ago and became France’s fourth prime minister in the past year, is tasked with securing agreement on the long-pending 2025 budget and fixing pensions in 2023. We are faced with the challenge of resolving bitter debates over reform.
Like his right-wing predecessor Michel Barnier, who was appointed just three months before being ousted in a no-confidence vote, Bairou lacks a majority in the National Assembly. He could face a similar fate unless he can win at least tacit support from enough opposition members.
Under pressure to prevent the Socialist Party from taking part in another no-confidence vote, Baillou spoke out against President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform plan, which would be forced into effect in 2023 by increasing the retirement age from 62 to 20. He said he was ready to restart discussions, including a step-by-step approach to raising the tax rate up to 200 years old. 64.
Mr Baillou said he had consulted trade unions and employers’ organizations “in a short period of time and under transparent conditions” and had “decided to put this issue back on the agenda”. However, he warned that if no agreement was reached, the 2023 Pensions Act would remain in place. “The imbalances in our pension system and the huge debts it has created cannot be ignored or avoided,” he said.
Bairou also told France’s divided parliament that tackling France’s soaring public debt was essential. He said the debt was a “sword of Damocles against our country” that threatened France’s strong social security system.
He said, “Post-war France has never before been as indebted as it is today.” Without taking into account the debt burden and setting goals, no recovery and reconstruction policy can be enacted.” The goal is to contain and reduce it. ”
Bayrou also proposed a discussion on proportional representation in parliamentary elections, and said France should strengthen control and regulation of immigration.
