There are the messages, the form… And the words used. We have gone through his two campaign programs and dissected his two major meetings, that of 2017 and that of 2022, to reveal the changes operated by Emmanuel Macron. Diving into “Wording” as they say in Macronie.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 12
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 43
From candidate of the start-up nation to father of the nation, the road is long. But after five years in power, the Covid and the war in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has changed, at least in his speech. To better embrace this role of protector, the candidate addresses the French… by talking about their children! Climate, health, public debt, culture, gender equality, digital and obviously education, one of its main campaign axes: whatever the theme, they occupy a central place. Basically, how better to evoke the future and, at the same time, ensure the strength of its promises, than by committing to the radiant future of toddlers.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 23
Name of occurrences in 2022 : 21
Macronism is also – above all? – continuity. “Liberate and protect”: the diptych is still in place and its second part is probably even more highlighted by the outgoing. Especially since the head of state has heard, for five years, that the “sovereign”, was the blind spot of his doctrine. Whether domestic, European, social, cyber, everyday, “downstairs” or “facing the roar of the world”, “security” is one of the themes on which the president did not want to lose ground. against Pécresse, Zemmour and Le Pen. Even more than in 2017, Emmanuel Macron, faced with major, anxiety-provoking and random transitions, and rising tensions, wanted to be president of protection.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 8
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 5
Campaign error or myopia of the outgoing president? Emmanuel Macron did not make the theme of purchasing power his campaign axis, unlike his opponent in the second round Marine Le Pen. He even talked about it less than five years ago. While the televised debate between the two rounds between the two candidates began on this subject, Macron mainly rested on his balance sheet: an increase in purchasing power on average much higher over his mandate than over those previous five years. Still, the few measures announced by the president – continued freezing of electricity and gas prices and tripling of the “Macron bonus” without charge or tax will not be enough to calm the rising social anger. Purchasing power will be its first life-size test.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 0
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 5
Can we talk about conversion? Or rather awareness of an increasingly complicated climate and energy equation. Five years ago, candidate Macron had not even mentioned nuclear power in his program. And the flagship measure at the start of his mandate was the closure of Fessenheim. Turnaround in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine and uncertainties about fossil fuel supplies. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, the re-elected president wants to both extend the life of existing power plants and launch the construction of 6 EPRs. It remains to be seen whether the French nuclear industry still has the know-how…
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 1
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 5
The Covid and whatever it costs have been there: French public debt has exploded over the past five years. Refining his image as “father of the nation”, he says he wants to lower it from 2026, so as not to leave this burden to future generations. It remains to know how? His program to cut spending is vague – with the exception of pensions – while his promises of very generous additional spending.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 2
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 34
Amazing, right? And yet, it is on this “never” that Emmanuel Macron has based a large part of his campaign, because it is a two-way street. Unlike the 2017 candidate, the 2022 candidate is dependent on a balance sheet. To highlight it, he evokes on many occasions the multiple crises which, “never” – or “never since X times” – have hit the country so hard… to better affirm that it has ” never” gave up. But Emmanuel Macron mainly uses the word to talk about the future: aware that his “at the same time” remains obscure, he hammers home, thanks to him, his deep values with emphasis: “I will never resolve to have mothers give up to their career”; “I will never bring myself to see our compatriots live in insecurity”… “Never” has never been so practical.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 0
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 16
The consequences of Covid-19 on the countryside: in 2017, it was a question of the global act of “treating”; in 2022, Emmanuel Macron points to the heroic acts of “caregivers”, their recruitment, their remuneration and their working conditions. They are the symbol of devitalized public services, the images of the intensive care units have marked the French, how not to quote them at length of meetings and programs. Through them, the candidate highlights his record, the Ségur de la Santé in particular. But, at the same time, it also makes them the first beneficiaries, along with the teachers, of its new method of governance which will give more freedom and responsibility to the actors in the field.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 1
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 6
The concept was absent from the debates in 2017. It must be said that the unemployment rate at the time was still flirting with 9.5%. In five years, it has fallen by almost two points to fall to its lowest level since 2008. As a result, Emmanuel Macron wants to make the French dream by talking to them about full employment, brandishing the sepia image of France for years 1970 when mass unemployment did not yet exist. A way also to pass a new reform of unemployment insurance. But by setting this objective for the end of his mandate, he has – almost – forgotten the short-term issues: purchasing power and salary. With the exception of caregivers, not a word about the remuneration of “front lines”.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 1
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 6
Difficult to erase the image of president of the rich. So to reconcile with his “left leg”, Emmanuel Macron has multiplied during this campaign the promises of social justice. With twice in his speech delivered to the Defense, the desire to “correct inequalities at the root”. Problem, he also proposes to reduce taxation on inheritances. Another form of “at the same time”.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 10
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 16
In 2017, the pension file was a marker of his campaign. The candidate Macron then promised a systemic reform, that of the universal regime. With a campaign slogan: one euro contributed must give the same rights for all. This big bang was even initially favored by the CFDT. Five years later and the resounding failure of the points system, he returns with a new pension reform. This time the angle of attack has changed. It is a question of working longer to finance other forms of solidarity and the notion of equality in the system has disappeared. The objective today is purely financial and accounting. On the left, we are choking and the unions are all firmly opposed to the decline in the legal retirement age. The negotiations promise to be tense.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 0
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 8
Pilfered from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, it is THE word of the between-two-turns on the side of Emmanuel Macron. Its Prime Minister will be responsible for ecological “planning”, assisted by a minister for energy “planning” and another responsible for territorial ecological “planning”. The candidate tapped into the imagination of the left to attract the voices of young people, concerned about global warming, and undermine his image as a liberal president.
Number of occurrences in 2017 : 0
Number of occurrences in 2022 : 8
Here again is the consequence of the Covid and the war in Ukraine. Since the pandemic, Emmanuel Macron has continued to brandish this notion of “sovereignty”, in particular industrial, which he often associates with that of national power. Some will see in it the remnants of its Chevènementist past… Above all, international events have increased its ambition to build a European Union that is also more sovereign, more independent, in energy matters as well as in defense matters. What highlight the huge difference between his project and that of Marine Le Pen.
