“I didn’t mean to humiliate anyone by my comments. That said, I stand by what I said and will continue to speak my mind… But if (protesters) attempt to paralyse the country, or join forces with ultra-violent activists – I won’t let them. And I will keep saying things as they are,” Mr Macron said during his first live television interview since taking office in May, which aired on TF1 television.
Mr Macron sparked outrage earlier this month and was accused of ‘class contempt’ after he said that the employees of the struggling GM&S car parts factory protesting over job losses should look for work at a nearby plant instead of “wreaking f***ing havoc”.
The GM&S blunder came just weeks after the 39-year-old president called critics of his labour reforms “slackers,” a comment he also attempted to defend.
“I was simply denouncing those who have given up on change – those who think that France and the European Union don’t need to be reformed,” he said, adding that he was “determined” to improve the lives of French people.
Mr Macron also brushed off claims that his social and economic policies favour the rich, saying that he was the “president of all French people” and that his radical reforms – namely the controversial labour code reform – “would start bearing fruit within two years”.
On the terror front, he said that there was “no such thing as zero risk,” especially when terrorist attacks were carried out by radicalised lone wolves unknown to French intelligence officials – a phenomenon he referred to as “solo jihad”.
The young centrist also pledged to deport “all illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes” after it came to light that the man who stabbed two women to death in the southern port city of Marseille just over two weeks ago was a radicalised illegal immigrant from Tunisia whom state officials had repeatedly failed to deport.
The president’s first live TV interview drew some 9.5 million viewers, but left many feeling sceptical.
A poll by Harris Interactive for RMC and Atlantico published on Monday showed that some 61 per cent of viewers were “unconvinced” by the president’s first television interview.
A total of 856 people aged 18 and over were polled online after the interview (between October 15-16).