Several right- and left-wing lawmakers have boycotted the speech that French President Emmanuel Macron gave at the joint session of the country’s parliament in Versailles Palace, the German broadcaster DW reports. While some compared the address with the US Presidents’ State of the Union, nodding at Macron’s leaning toward the fashion from across the Atlantic, others slammed him for adopting a “monarchial” style as the #Macron Monarc hashtag spread on Twitter.
The founder of the left-wing “La France Insoumise” party ("Unbowed France"), Jean-Luc Melenchon, mocked 'Macron the First', and criticized him for unfair wealth distribution.
“Mr. Macron says that to share the cake, there must be a cake. But our country has never produced so much wealth and 10% of people concentrate 50% of wealth. There is a cake, but some profit themselves,” he tweeted.
Another left-wing MP, Michel Larive, reprimanded Macron for borrowing the rhetoric of right-wing leader Marine Le Pain.
Emmanuel Macron has made a great oxymoron: "popular capitalism" which is the rhetoric of Ms. Le Pen.
There were those who blamed Macron for naivety, at least.
This providential man is a Santa Claus for adults. To believe that a single man can solve the complex problems of the country as an "enlightened despot" is naïve. And to mistake him for a Messiah is immature.
Frameworks and Rules for Islam, Public Spending Cuts for Citizens
In his address to the lawmakers, President Emmanuel Macron presented his plan of major changes, aimed to build a "welfare state for the 21st Century" in France, ease religious tensions and address the terrorism threat.
In his speech, Macron announced that authorities are to present “frameworks and rules, which ensure that Islam is practiced according to the laws of the Republic” before autumn. He admitted that some Muslims in France as well as in other countries, profess “the radicalized version of Islam” and want to eliminate the country’s laws and rules, including principles of personal freedom, freedom of speech and gender equality, and don't respect other people’s choices. Macron promised that the French state would ensure that its "principles were not challenged by any religious dogmas.”
READ MORE: Not Tough Enough: Most French Want Macron to Crack Down on Islamists — Polls
He also promised to address the problem of terrorism and migration, and “restore republican order and respect" with counter-terror measures and policing plans for the migrant suburbs, presented in 2018.
Speaking about the interior policy, Macron talked about the success of his reform course, cutting corporate tax, changing labor laws, reforming the French state rail company SNCF, which triggered months of public protests in France, and unveiled plans for public spending cuts, which are to be presented within the next weeks.
He also gave a little pep talk, claiming his main idea was to restore “France’s splendor” and calling to give up “the ideology of self-denial, which we have persistently followed for 40 years, believing France is a mediocre state,” which “suffocated and deadened” the nation.