French President François Hollande has kicked off a marathon media campaign aimed at championing a string of economic reforms and reversing his record-low approval ratings at the three-year mark of his presidency, reports FRANCE 24.
Hollande started the New Year on Monday with an unprecedented two-hour interview on the public radio station France Inter, fielding questions from listeners and addressing a wide range of topics.
The president, whose popularity has plunged to historic lows amid rising jobless figures, addressed France’s weak economy, but also the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, the rise of far-right parties and efforts to curb global warming.
“I take responsibility,” he said in reference to a national GDP that crawled below 1% in 2014 and unemployment figures that stood at a record 3.5 million people in November. “I am the president of the Republic. I’m not going to say ‘it’s because of immigrants, because of the financial crisis’,” he added.
Hollande also tried to rally support for a pair of economic reforms he said would get people back to work if given a fair chance, echoing a traditional New Year’s speech he delivered on live television last week, which was watched by millions across the country.
He will make several more media appearances in the coming days, including a visit and speech to the nation’s armed forces and veterans in the central Loiret region next week, and a huge biannual press conference at the end of the month.
Hollande’s new blitz on the airwaves should pay off with a boost in his job approval rating, according to experts.
“He should climb in polls because he is now talking directly to people for the first time since the beginning of his mandate,” Phlippe Moreau-Chevrolet, president of the French PR firm MCBG Conseil, told FRANCE 24.