Macron, between the pension reform crisis and the enthusiasm for the Olympics

France lives in two parallel realities. Paris, blocked by mountains of rubbish piled up in the streets as a result of tireless protests for pension reform, expects another day of strikes tomorrow. Meanwhile, the president Macron He had breakfast this morning at the Élysée with some thirty Olympic Games partner companies to review the organization: “There are 500 days left to succeed”, he said enthusiastically.

Macron There was a mass bath in a difficult week, especially in the capital: “This is the beginning of a countdown that will come after years and years of effort. We will try to welcome the planet in the best possible conditions of security, organization, social and ecological responsibility”, he stressed in his speech, accompanied by the Ministers of the Interior, Gerald Darmaninand Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castera.

For the first time in Olympic history, the opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium, but outside, on the Seine River, in the heart of the capital, an unprecedented security challenge: “We have learned all the lessons of events at the Stade de France”, said the Sports Minister after the logistical fiasco that led to the last Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool.

Meanwhile, France raises many questions a year and a half before the Olympic Games: Will the airports be ready enough to receive millions of visitors from around the world? Will the means of transportation be adapted to the needs of people with disabilities? How will a general strike like the ones that took place this year affect 2023? How can the state strengthen security in an often dangerous environment?

All these issues and many others are part of the street debate, criticizing the excessive euphoria of Macron At a time when people are not so much worried about the Olympic Games as about their future work and the pension reform: “We are on the road to victory”, the president settled, happy to see that in of 500 days the world will see Paris thanks to the celebration of an Olympic date that constitutes other problems.