It was, this Thursday at the time of the curfew, the ninth televised address by Emmanuel Macron this year.
The president, himself contaminated by the coronavirus and whose health crisis remains the priority at the end of the year, presented his wishes to the French at 8 p.m.
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Government spokesman Gabriel Attal assured Wednesday, about this speech, that the Head of State would have "a message of truth, transparency on an extremely difficult year for the country".
Here is what to remember from his vows, pronounced in a more sober setting than in previous years.
A "spirit of collective responsibility"
"Tonight we are not living a December 31 like the others", underlined the president, who advocates a "spirit of collective responsibility", while being aware that "the year 2020 ends with efforts and restrictions ".
He also had a word "for the 64,000 victims of this virus, their families and loved ones".
As well as for caregivers, students and the many workers deprived of activity.
“I want to tell them again that we will be there, to allow them to hold out in this period so hard and unfair for them.
"
Underlining "the solidity of our nation", highlighted by this "historic test" that is the health crisis, Emmanuel Macron also made several advances related to "our ambition for progress", implemented in 2020, such as the reduction of certain taxes, rights for carers, extension of paternity leave, or even “historic investments in sovereignty and research”.
"Our country is one of those which has intervened the most" in terms of financial aid to the French, he also hammered, referring to this famous principle of "whatever the cost" which, according to him, “Helped protect lives and jobs”.
Brexit, "the child of European malaise"
On the eve of the UK's final exit from the European Union, the Head of State also highlighted the need for an “agreement to organize our future relationship with him, defending our interests”, to About this country which "remains our neighbor, our friend, our ally".
"This Brexit was the child of European malaise", analyzes Emmanuel Macron, who wants a "stronger, autonomous and united Europe".
He also congratulated himself on having succeeded in convincing Germany, as well as other members of the EU, to have accepted in recent months a "single and massive recovery plan", making it possible to face the consequences. economic aspects of the epidemic.
A tribute to caregivers, law enforcement and employees of the "second line"
An unprecedented exercise, the resident of the Elysée Palace also paid tribute, by naming them by their first names, to several of the French who made the country “proud” in 2020, by their exemplary career paths.
Thus Marie-Corentine, nurse who lent a hand during the height of the health crisis at the hospital of Créteil, Jean-Luc, garbage collector in Guyana, who with his colleagues "constituted this second line at the height of the confinement" , or Gérald, entrepreneur who produced thousands of masks.
Emmanuel Macron also had a word for the members of the police, including the police officers involved in the recent attacks, as well as the three gendarmes killed last week in the Puy-de-Dôme and the three soldiers who died Monday in operation. in Mali.
“They are the heroes of the nation.
"
Vaccination: "I would not let unjustified slowness set in"
Before talking about the massive campaign of vaccinations against the coronavirus underway, he also mentioned Mauricette, 77, the first to be vaccinated in France.
"Hope is there, in this vaccine that human genius made happen in only one year", he commented, about the product of Pfizer, whose first doses arrived in France last weekend .
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With two promises: "I will not let anyone play with the safety and the good conditions" (of his injection), which will be "supervised by doctors" and, "I will not let unjustified slowness set in", insisted the president, indicating that "every Frenchman who wishes it must be able to be vaccinated", over the coming months.
"Hope" in our youth
As for the health crisis, the presidential projections remain rather gloomy: "At least until spring, the epidemic will weigh on the life of our country".
Emmanuel Macron said he had “hope in our youth”, deprived of social contact, from whom we “asked for sacrifices to save the lives of the most fragile, our elders”.
"It is for our youth that we must continue to act. We will not add to the cost of the crisis that of inaction", he insisted.
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“Our nation has gone through this year with such unity, resilience, nothing can resist it. She is capable of so much inventiveness, generosity ", also greeted the president, assuring, optimistically, that in 2021," we will be able to face the health, economic and social, terrorist or climatic crises, which will not be extinguished not ". He says he is counting, from the spring, on "a stronger economy, more climate-friendly, united and innovative". Assuring, in his last words, that “this spring 2021 will be the beginning of a European renaissance. "