Emmanuel Macron cast himself as a wartime leader as he laid out his manifesto just three weeks before the presidential election, suggesting he was the safest choice for voters in troubled times, reports Bloomberg.
“Facing the unforeseeable, you already have a certain idea of how I behave,” Macron said during a four-hour long press conference in Aubervilliers, near Paris, on Thursday.
Macron put himself at the center of failed European diplomatic efforts to avert Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With the war now in its fourth week and intensifying, the French leader vowed to beef up defense spending to face threats including cyber attacks and conventional warfare. He pledged a more independent France “within a stronger Europe”.
Often accused of being a Jupiterian ruler, Macron said his campaign motto ‘With you’ reflects “a method for the long term”. He smiled and appeared mostly relaxed as he talked about issues ranging from energy to education and surrogacy, but also he bristled, once telling reporters they should be more patient with his long answers.
Macron set aside so much time to take questions from journalists in a bid to appear more accessible after keeping the press at arms-length last time around, and for much of his five-year term. It was also an attempt to defuse criticism that he’s barely been out campaigning, though in some respects, he doesn’t need to.